What Is Known about the "Wallets" of the Usurper, against Which the EU Imposed Sanctions

Materials for future trials.

The EU imposed sanctions on the Belarusian authorities. The list includes not only functionaries but also business owners. The tut.by portal spoke about the "wallets" of the usurper, which were affected by the sanctions.

Aliaksei Aleksin

Does business in many industries. The family of Aliaksei Aleksin owns Belneftegaz, Energo-Oil, which operates in the wholesale and retail trade of tobacco products, hotel and restaurant business. One of the last high-profile projects of the businessman is the Tabakerka chain, which has almost 3 thousand kiosks. The businessman's company was granted a monopoly right to import raw tobacco into Belarus. In 2019, his company Inter Tobacco was allocated a plot of land near Minsk for the construction of a tobacco factory.

The businessman is a co-owner of the large logistics operator Bremino Group, which fell under the sanctions. In addition, he and his family are the owners of MTBank and have business projects in Latvia.

Aleksin's career began in the civil service at Belvneshtorginvest, which is part of Lukashenka’s Administrative Department. After that, he became a partner of the owner of the Triple group, Yury Chyzh, who, after falling under Western sanctions, re-registered the business in the field of oil products on Aleksin. And in 2014, Aleksin bought the Triple-Veles plant from Chyzh.

In 2015, Aleksin received permission from Aliaksandr Lukashenka to build two large pig farms in the Maladzechna district. Veles-Meat (renamed Triple-Veles) received tax preferences for such investment projects. Lukashenka also approved the sale to Veles-Meat of the state-owned shareholding in the agricultural enterprise Gorodilovo for 34.3 billion non-denominated rubles.

When information appeared in the winter about the possible inclusion of Aleksin in the third package of EU sanctions, the businessman transferred his assets in the Energo-Oil and Belneftegaz companies to his family members.

During his visit to the eco-market near Minsk on May 14, Aliaksandr Lukashenka spoke about the fact that Veles-Meat may also become the sole owner of the Valerianovo shopping center in the Minsk region.

“He maintains close relations with Aliaksandr Lukashenka, as well as his son and former national security adviser Viktar Lukashenka. He is active in the biker movement in Belarus, a hobby that he shares with Viktar Lukashenka. His company owns real estate in Alexandria-2 (Mahiliou region), usually called the “Lukashenka’s residence,” where Aliaksandr Lukashenka often visits,” the rationale for Aleksin’s inclusion in the sanctions list says.

Aliaksandr Zaitsau

A former civil servant, he worked at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Economy and the Council of Ministers, was an assistant to Viktar Lukashenka.

Later Zaitsau became the owner of logistics and industrial companies, as well as the football clubs Dynama Brest and Rukh. He trades, including state-owned products, with the Gulf States and Africa. His companies are associated with gold mining in Ghana and Sudan.

Aliaksandr Zaitsau, together with Aleksin and Varabei, owns the Bremino Group.

His company Sohra, which promotes the products of Belarusian enterprises to foreign markets, is also included in the list of the fourth package of EU sanctions.

“Thanks to access to the Lukashenka family, Zaitsau gets lucrative contracts for running his business. He is a co-owner of the Bremino Group, supported by Viktar Lukashenka. The company received state support for the development of the Bremino-Orsha zone, as well as several financial and tax advantages and other benefits. Thus, he benefits from the Lukashenka regime and supports it,” the rationale for Zaitsau’s inclusion in the sanctions list says.

Mikhail Gutseriev

Russian businessman with interests in Belarus in energy, potash fertilizers, hotel and other businesses. According to Forbes, the businessman's fortune is $ 2.5 billion. He owns the Safmar group. The assets of Russneft and Neftis, which he and his son own, produce about 14 million tons of oil per year.

Mikhail Gutseriev was the president of the Slavneft company, which was engaged in oil refining and modernization of the Mozyr oil refinery. Later, his own companies supplied oil to Belarusian refineries and were engaged in the sale of fuel for export.

In Belarus, Gutseriev owns the capital hotel Renaissance, the companies Slavkali, Slavneftekhim. The latter is engaged in the supply of oil and its processing at Belarusian refineries. The businessman is connected with a terminal for business aviation at the airport of the capital and the Krasnaselskaye hotel complex, which was formerly part of Lukashenka’s Administrative Department.

In 2017, the Russian began construction of a new $ 2 billion potash plant in Belarus, which was financed by China. Production is scheduled to start in 2023.

Mikhail Gutseriev has friendly relations with Aliaksandr Lukashenka. “This is the man to whom the ruler of Belarus unswervingly trusts,” said Lukashenka's press secretary Natallia Eismant.

Friendship helped in 2020 when Minsk and Moscow were engaged in a long and difficult oil dispute. Then Gutseriev agreed to supply oil to Belarus without a premium.

“He is a longtime friend of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and, thanks to this association, he has amassed considerable wealth and influence among the political elite of Belarus. Mikhail Gutseriev benefits from the Lukashenka regime and supports it,” the EU document on restrictions says.

Siarhei Tsiatseryn

Siarhei Tsiatseryn is another former official who has achieved "success" in business. At one time, he was the director of the Olympic sports complex Raubichy, the deputy minister of sports and tourism, the vice-president of the National Olympic Committee.

Now he runs a business related to food, furniture distribution, as well as the import and distribution of food, alcoholic beverages, sports, advertising and media, hotels, and restaurants. Owns the BelGlobalGarant company and is one of the co-owners of VIBEL, which cooperates in advertising with national TV channels.

In addition, Tsiatseryn is the chairman of the Belarusian Tennis Federation.

“He publicly condemned the Belarusian athletes who protested against the violence and persecution of peaceful demonstrators, journalists, human rights activists. He publicly demanded that athletes return all the money invested in them,” says the EU document on the reasons for the imposition of the sanctions.

Aleksandr Shatrov

IT entrepreneur from Moscow who moved to Belarus and founded Synesis.

Aleksandr Shatrov's company started out as a custom software developer, and, since 2014, it has focused on its own products. Now the group of companies includes 4 residents of the High-Tech Park in Minsk, two residents of the Moscow innovation park Skolkovo, an operator company in Kazakhstan, and a company in the United States.

Panoptes 24/7, a subsidiary of Synesis, was the developer of the public safety monitoring system. It was reported that the work was carried out based on its platform Kipod, which "performs instant searches in large arrays of video data, instantly notifies of violations using advanced machine learning algorithms."

Last year, the company was accused of helping police “identify protesters” using the Kipod platform. And, in winter, for the same reason, Synesis came under EU sanctions.

“He is responsible for Synesis's decision to provide the Belarusian authorities with a Kipod surveillance platform that can search and analyze video footage and use facial recognition software. Thus, he contributed to the suppression of civil society and democratic opposition on the part of the state apparatus,” this is how the European Union explains the reason for including the businessman on the sanctions list.

Dzmitry and Lilia Lukashenka

Dzmitry is the middle son of Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the head of his sports club. “Through this organization, he conducts business and controls a number of enterprises,” is stated in the EU decision on the adoption of sanctions.

Lilia Lukashenka is the wife of Viktar Lukashenka, the eldest son of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. She is associated with large companies close to the family's entourage, Dana Holdings / Dana Astra, Belkhudozhpromysly concern, and Eastleigh trading Ltd.

“She benefits from the Lukashenka’s regime and supports it,” the EU says of the reasons for the sanctions.