What We Know About Today Possibly Sanctioned “Wallets” of Lukashenka

What assets do they have?

According to the media, on June 21, the European Union is to impose sanctions against five businessmen closely associated with the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The restrictions will affect Aliaksei Aleksin, Aliaksandr Zaitseu, Siarhei Tsetseryn, Aliaksandr Shatrou and Mikhail Gutseriev. Belsat shares information about the people mentioned.

Mikhail Gutseriev

The 62-year-old Russian oligarch is chairman of the Safmar Group and the RussNeft oil company, his personal fortune estimated at $2 billion. The Gutseriev family has been at the top of the list of richest clans in modern Russia for five years and only last year dropped to third place in the Forbes rating.

The friendship of Gutseriev and Lukashenka began in the 2000s when the oligarch became president of Slavneft and started to build filling stations and oil depots in Belarus. Lukashenka and Gutseriev's warm relationship has always been open.

"The president of Belarus trusts him invariably," Natallia Eismont, head of Lukashenka's press service, told Forbes in 2018.

Thanks to Lukashenka, the Russian oligarch was given a major investment project to implement - the construction of a new potash plant in the Luban district (the Nezhino mining and processing plant).

"You are one of the few who got the Belarusian subsoil," Lukashenka told Gutseriev in due time.

Besides, Gutseriev built the Renaissance hotel in Minsk, a terminal for business aviation in the Minsk airport and a number of other projects.

According to unofficial information it was Gutseriev together with Viktar Prakapenya and other IT businessmen who persuaded Lukashenka to sign a decree "On the Development of Digital Economy". Shortly afterwards, Said Gutseriev, son of the oligarch, became a co-owner of the first cryptocurrency exchange in Belarus. In 2020, Said also bought the Belarusian Paritetbank.

As a sign of gratitude, Gutseriev regularly rendered Lukashenka various services and made expensive gifts. According to the media, it was Gutseriev who gave Lukashenka one of the most expensive cars in the world for his birthday in 2013 - a Maybach model 57/62, which cost about $500,000.

The Russian oligarch built a villa near Radoshkovichi. Lukashenka regularly visits it. Gutseriev also bought a VIP helicopter of about 12 million euros and painted it in the colours of the Belarusian national flag. He also organized Russian show business stars to perform at a concert for Lukashenka.

In 2020, the oligarch actually bailed out Lukashenka several times. At the height of the oil war with Russia, Gutseriev's companies were the only oil suppliers to Belarusian refineries. In August, the oligarch organized a "propaganda landing force" - an urgent transfer of Russian TV workers to Belarus in order to replace the workers of BT who quit in protest. After the arrival of Russians, the official propaganda became strongly aggressive and misanthropic.

Aliaksei Aleksin

Aliaksei Aleksin is one of the oligarchs closest to Lukashenka's family. Together with Viktar Lukashenka, the businessman appears in biker camps, they flew together to the UAE on a private plane. Aleksin began his career in public service, worked in Belvneshtorginvest, which was part of Lukashenka's Administration.

Today, Aleksin's business has a privileged status in Belarus. In recent years, Aleksin received exclusive rights from the state in the tobacco trade. In December 2017, Lukashenka authorized the oligarch's company Energo-Oil to create a unified tobacco distribution network. Tabakerka kiosks appeared in Belarus (up to 2,500 units in total were planned).

The authorities even changed the administrative boundaries of Minsk for Aleksin's tobacco production. Since August 2018, Energo-Oil became the exclusive distributor of the products of Neman Grodno Tobacco Factory. The oligarch also received permission to import L&M, Parliament, and Marlboro cigarettes, although only the Belarustorg enterprise of Lukashenka's Administration used to have this right.

Moreover, Aleksin, Zaitseu and Varabei own the Bremino Group, a company engaged in the development of the industrial and logistics complex Bremino-Orsha. The media refer to this complex as Orsha Offshore due to the non-transparency of the project and various privileges received from the state.

According to the media, Aleksin may be involved in a number of illegal business schemes, in particular, cigarette smuggling. In Lithuania, Aleksin controlled several firms, as a joint journalistic investigation by Belsat, Siena.lt and OCCRP found out, with a manifest money laundering. For example, Aleksin once set up a company in a dilapidated building in Vilnius and then used it to buy an apartment to register two other companies. The companies with no employees spent 46 million euros through their accounts in less than two years.

It was expected that Aleksin would fall under sanctions back in late 2020. The decision changed at the last moment. According to unofficial information, Latvia insisted on it as the oligarch was doing business there. But Aleksin still prepared for the European sanctions. In January 2021, he transferred his key assets (Energo-Oil and Beltransgaz) to his sons - Vitaly and Dzmitry.

Aliaksandr Zaitseu

In the 2000s, Aliaksandr Zaitseu was "an inconspicuous clerk" in the administration of the Council of Ministers. According to media reports, he used to work as Viktar Lukashenka's assistant. Then he stepped into the business sector and became one of the most influential oligarchs of the country shortly after. Zaitseu is considered a person close to Viktar Lukashenka, who was a member of the Security Council until 2021 and was his father's national security aide. Their contacts extend beyond business matters. For example, when the soccer club Dinamo-Brest owned by the businessman won the championship of Belarus, Viktar Lukashenka personally attended the banquet.

Zaitseu's business was almost initially linked to the UAE. He has been a resident of this country since 2008. His company Sohra Overseas positions itself as the pivotal supplier of civilian products of Belarusian state-owned enterprises in the Persian Gulf and Africa. One of Zaitseu's most famous business partners in the Arab world is Tajeddine Seif, a man who calls the current Prime Minister Raman Halouchenka "dear friend" and "beloved brother".

Zaitseu also has ties in defence projects. Sohra Overseas co-owns Kidma Tech (formerly known as BSZT - New Technologies). Kidma Tech plays a kind of "producer" role in the Belarusian military-industrial complex and is positioned as a "subsidiary" of the state-owned Belspetsvneshtekhnika, which exports weapons and military equipment. As the Belsat investigation found out, Zaitseu's defence business has ties to several suspicious companies in Latvia and Ukraine, which are more similar to shell companies. In addition, the businessman is among the co-owners of the Ukrainian Sigma Technology, which regularly participates in National Police tenders and supplies thermal imaging cameras, night vision devices and accessories for small arms.

Zaitseu also has assets in Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta. Zaitseu's business in Lithuania (UAB Sohra, which he owns through the Cypriot Litenburgo Investments), according to media reports, manifests money laundering. In Malta, Zaitseu, Mikalai Varabei, Turkish businessman Alaattin Aykaç and the mysterious Euror Consulting Group Inc, registered in Panama, co-own the Stork Alliance Holding Limited company.

Siarhei Tsetseryn

Siarhei Tsetseryn is the chairman of the Belarusian Tennis Federation, a man from Lukashenka's entourage. One can often find him together with Lukashenka at informal events.

In his youth, Tsetseryn was a professional tennis player and a tennis champion of the BSSR who played at international competitions. Then he started coaching.

Tsetseryn and Lukashenka got acquainted back in the 90s, played tennis and hockey together. At different times, Tsetseryn was a deputy minister of sports and tourism, served as vice president of the National Olympic Committee.

In 2012, he went into business after leaving the NOC. He is the founder and director of BelGlobalStart Holding. The holding companies sell furniture and interior items, own a chain of movie bars, supply alcohol and some food products to the Belarusian market.

Like other businessmen close to Lukashenka, Tsetseryn regularly receives various preferences for his business. For example, a company controlled by Tsetseryn was appointed the official catering operator during the 2014 World Ice Hockey Championship. In 2015, his company was added to the list of special importers of alcoholic beverages.

Tsetseryn also has assets in the media business. He is co-owner of THT-International, which manages the broadcasting of the Russian THT TV channel in Belarus.

Aliaksandr Shatrou

Aliaksandr Shatrou heads Synesis, an IT company that develops and distributes video surveillance and analytics systems. The public safety monitoring platform Kipod, created by Synesis, became an important tool for the security services to identify and pursue protesters during the 2020 events. Synesis was sanctioned by the European Union for it back in 2020.

Shatrou himself disputed all of the charges and even sued the EU court to have the sanctions lifted.

Interestingly, until recently, almost a quarter of Synesis LLC was owned by Energo-Oil-Invest and the wife of Energo-Oil's key beneficiary, Inna Aleksina. However, after the introduction of EU sanctions, all 100% of the company was transferred to Shatrou. Shatrou and Aleksin were also involved in the launch of the BNGarant transit monitoring system. Shatrou's business also appeared in joint projects with Lukashenka's Department of Affairs. In particular, they developed software for the BelBet online lottery.

However, Shatrou is probably the only businessman from the sanctions list who is not personally close to Lukashenka's family. He has never appeared with Lukashenka or his sons at any public events. Nothing is known about their personal contacts either.