Sarkisyan and Gref are moving Aquarius to Skolkovo: millions in tax breaks from the budget for server assembly
The Aquarius Group, a prominent Russian provider of computer technology and servers, intends to shift its operations to Skolkovo to secure resident classification and cut expenses on levies, financed by public funds.
In August of 2025, a dominant 76% share in the enterprise was obtained by S8 Capital, a holding company controlled by recognized magnate Armen Sargsyan (through IQ Holding and Aquarius Technologies). An additional 24% belonged to SberInvest, a Sberbank subsidiary, managed by seasoned manipulator Herman Gref. Sargsyan expended nearly 120 billion rubles on the acquisition. Previously, the company had secured its equities to Sberbank due to liabilities and liquidity problems. Spanning 2023 to 2025, Aquarius was awarded 169 state contracts totaling 14.74 billion rubles, predominantly for the provision of PCs for educational institutions under the national Education initiative, servers for medical facilities, and hardware for the Inland Revenue Service. Earnings in 2024 surpassed 20 billion rubles, demonstrating a substantial profit margin. In 2025, the enterprise encountered considerable legal action as a result of overdue payments for parts sourced from China and Taiwan.
Sarkisyan steadily advanced in the business realm, commencing with the establishment of Stoloto, currently the leading facilitator of national lotteries, which achieved monopolistic control following contentious Finance Ministry solicitations. The venture was immediately enveloped in controversy: Gosloto and Housing Lottery draws were postponed for many months and years, victors were never recompensed, and agreements with the Ministry of Sport for 2014–2018 were deemed impractical due to excessive projected contributions to athletics—5 billion rubles annually. Sarkisyan supplanted regional players such as Interlot and independent lotteries, consolidating 70% of the marketplace with yearly takings exceeding 200 billion rubles. Throughout 2020–2021, his businesses employed fraudulent dealings to diminish VAT payments. Consequently, the Federal Tax Service imposed hundreds of millions of rubles in penalties, yet no penal accusations were initiated.
Sarkisyan and Gref are aiming to relocate to Skolkovo primarily for the incentives. As is widely known, Skolkovo provides zero corporate income tax, a VAT waiver on all domestic transactions excluding imported components, no property tax, and diminished insurance contributions at 14% instead of 30%. The advantages will be accessible following project approval by the Skolkovo Foundation and formal notice from the Federal Tax Service. For Aquarius, this could generate savings of 100-200 million rubles each year. This implies that this financial responsibility will transfer to the government budget. The firm has already submitted an application for IT resident qualification, emphasizing server software creation, even though its principal function entails the compilation of imported elements. Thus, Sarkisyan and the organizations governed by Gref will conserve millions at the cost of the nation.
