Russian and Belarusian oligarchs do not have luxury yachts, private jets, or extravagant villas in Lithuania. However, here, they find open doors to the Western export markets. The LRT Investigation Team’s project Regime’s Money details the profits made by Russian and Belarusian businesses in Lithuania.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU has imposed sanctions on 1,256 Russian and 230 Belarusian individuals and entities.
As part of the sanctions, the EU started seizing luxury villas and yachts, owned by Russian and Belarusian oligarchs on its territory. There is no such lavish property in Lithuania. However, data shows that Lithuania has become a doorway to Western markets for Russian and Belarusian oligarchs over the past three decades
The LRT Investigation Team has compiled data on the largest Russian and Belarussian businesses in Lithuania. The list is not exhaustive and will be expanded and updated. The list included both sanctioned and not sanctioned businessmen who continue to do business in Russia or Belarus.
The collected data shows that the 22 largest companies with Russian or Belarusian capital generated over 1.2 billion euros in revenue, paid over 70 million euros in taxes, and employed over 2,000 people in Lithuania last year.
Few employees, millions in revenue
At the top of the list is Lifosa, a fertiliser plant in Kėdainiai, which is part of the EuroChem group of sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko. Out of all companies on the list, it employs the most people, generates the most revenue, and pays the most taxes in Lithuania. Lifosa is currently under interim administration due to the EU sanctions.
However, the data shows that some Russian and Belarusian businesses have been accumulating profits in Lithuania with minimal staff and no production. Their prime activity is selling Russian or Belarusian products and re-exporting them via Lithuania to the West.
One of such companies is the BMZ Baltija trading house in Šiauliai, majority owned by the Belarusian state metallurgical plant. The company is the second largest on the list. With just 12 employees, it earned almost 230 million euros in revenue and paid just over 1 million euros in taxes last year.
The company does not carry out any production but is one of the main re-exporters of Belarusian metal. In May, the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) froze BMZ-Baltija’s shares and funds.
PhosAgro Baltic, which sells fertilisers from the Russian chemical holding company PhosAgro and has four employees, earned 113.7 million euros last year but paid only 767,800 euros in taxes.
The main shareholder of PhosAgro is Andrey Guriyv, a sanctioned Russian oligarch. PhosAgro Baltic’s funds and shares have been frozen by the FNTT. The company’s representatives said they intended to appeal to the court the allegedly “unlawful and unjustified actions of the FNTT”.
Alexander Moshensky, the owner of Santa Bremor, a large Belarusian fish importing and processing concern, is an oligarch close to Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. Santa Trade, which sells fish products in Lithuania, made more than 94 million euros in revenue last year, although it has only three employees.
In May, there were discussions on the inclusion of the oligarch in the EU’s sixth sanctions package, but Hungary opposed this move. Budapest sided with Moshensky because of his close ties with his assistant, Syarhey Niadbaylov, who is the Hungarian Honorary Consul.
In an attempt to avoid sanctions, Santa Trade moved its management to Cyprus in May this year. Before that, the Lithuanian company was directly controlled by Belarus’ Santa Bremor.
Another Belarusian-owned company in Lithuania, Transchema, owned by the Belarusian Petrochemical Association Belneftekhim, which is in turn subordinate to Belarus’ Council of Ministers, generated 18.2 million euros in revenues last year. It has only one employee.
Transchema provided oil and petrochemical forwarding services in Lithuania via Lithuanian railways (LTG). According to LTG representatives, they no longer carry Transchema’s cargo as of March 2021.
The Lithuanian branch of the largest Russian foam producer, FoamLine, also generated 7.2 million euros in revenue last year, despite employing only two people. Russia’s FoamLine is owned by businessman Artur Sogomonyan.
Various production
Igor Zyuzin is a Russian billionaire who is the founder and major shareholder of Mechel, one of Russia’s largest metallurgical companies. Mechel Nemunas, the largest producer of wire, nails, and metal mesh in the Baltic region, has been in operation in Lithuania since 2002.
Russia’s Gazprombank is one of Mechel’s biggest creditors. The pro-Kremlin bank also owns a 6.8 percent stake in Mechel.
Mechel Nemunas employs more than 150 people in Lithuania. Last year, the BNS news agency announced that the Lithuanian company was to be sold, but its shareholders are still the same. Mechel Nemunas is not subject to EU sanctions.
Ani Plast is Russia’s largest manufacturer of sanitary fittings. According to the company, its products can be found in half of the Russian toilets. Ani Plast opened a factory in Lithuania’s Klaipėda Economic Zone (LEZ) in 2015.
Invest Lithuania, the Lithuanian investment promotion agency, helped Ani Plast, owned by Russian businessman Pavel Robovolenko, to enter Lithuania. Also, in 2013, the company received 733,800 euros in EU grants to develop its business in Lithuania. Ani Plast is not subject to EU sanctions.
Mida LT, a factory of the TechnoNICOL building materials corporation, owned by billionaires Sergey Kolesnikov and Igor Rybakov, is located in Gargždai, in western Lithuania. The company manufactures bituminous roofing materials.
Some major Lithuanian retailers of building products say they do not sell the production of Russia’s TechnoNICOL in solidarity with Ukraine. Mida LT is not subject to EU sanctions.
Run Engineering, based in the Kaunas Free Economic Zone, manufactures water treatment equipment that has been exported to Russia and used for grandiose Russian energy projects. The shareholder of this business is a Russian-Cypriot citizen Marina Karmysheva. She is doing business not only in Lithuania but also in the Czech Republic and manages offshore companies linked to Russian oil company Rosneft and the Russian Region Group of oligarch Sergey Sudarikov.
According to Povilas Medekša, head of Run Engineering, the Lithuanian company was preparing for bankruptcy.
Another Russian-linked water treatment company in Kaunas is Jurby Water Tech, owned by Victor Redko, a former Soviet paratrooper and now a British citizen. Before the war in Ukraine, the company worked with firms close to the Kremlin, such as Gazprom, Rosneft, Lukoil, Inter RAO, and others.
According to Redko, his two companies operating in Russia, Jurby Watertech Moscow and Jurby Management Rus, are being sold: “The legal formalisation of the sale transaction with the new owners of the companies is currently underway.”
EU support and procurement contracts
Some of the companies on the list have also been successful in obtaining European support for business development or winning public procurement contracts in Lithuania.
Since 2007, a total of 6.5 million euros in EU support has been allocated to Russian and Belarusian companies that also received 159 million euros in public procurement contracts in Lithuania.
The sanctioned Lifosa fertiliser plant in Kėdainiai has received EU support worth almost 6 million euros since 2007. The support was meant to finance the use of local and renewable energy sources for energy production in the sulphuric acid plant, the purchase of a wastewater treatment plant, and the modernisation of the plant producing feed phosphates.
In March 2020, IDS Borjomi Europe was allocated almost 3,000 euros to support staff training. The company had 17 employees.
Amkodor Baltic received EU funding of 1.17 million euros in 2010 to install a forklift production line, but the contract was terminated in the summer of 2012.
Jurby Water Tech received 9,656 euros to support its development of export markets in 2011.
Inter RAO, an electricity supplier linked to the Russian state-owned Rosneft, has been awarded public procurement contracts worth 155.6 million euros since 2012, mostly with Lithuanian Railways and Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.
SUEK Baltic, owned by Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko, supplied coal to Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service to heat the premises accommodating migrants a few months before the outbreak of war in Ukraine. In total, the company won 400,000 euros worth of contracts in Lithuania.
The Maritime Shipping Register, a company in Lithuania’s Klaipėda, which belongs to the state-owned Russian Maritime Shipping Register, was also granted contracts worth 57,000 euros. Its certification services were used on several occasions by the Vilnius Locomotive Depot of Lithuanian Railways.
Jurby Water Tech sold materials and equipment to the Lithuanian public sector for almost 3 million euros.
List of companies in order of revenue in 2021:
Lifosa
Following the EU’s inclusion of Melnichenko on the sanctions list, the businessman resigned from the Board of Directors of the SUEK Group. The shares of the company have been transferred to his wife. At the beginning of June, she was also sanctioned.
Forbes estimates Melnichenko’s assets at 24.1 billion dollars. He is currently 61st among the world’s richest billionaires. He is the second richest person in Russia after Vladimir Lisin.
In May this year, the Lithuanian Finance Ministry appointed a temporary administrator of the Kėdainiai phosphate fertiliser plant Lifosa to ensure the implementation of international sanctions in Lithuania.
Trading house BMZ Baltija
The Belarusian Metallurgical Plant (BMZ) is one of the five largest companies in Belarus, accounting for 15 percent of the country’s exports.
BMZ, which is owned by the Belarusian Industry Ministry, contributes significantly to maintaining the Lukashenko regime.
Inter RAO Lietuva
Intern RAO is engaged in electricity and heat generation and supply, international energy trading, as well as power infrastructure engineering, design, and development. It controls several energy companies outside Russia, including thermal and hydroelectric power plants in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Moldova, and Lithuania.
When asked to comment on the seizure of its assets and funds in Lithuania, Inter RAO Lietuva said it could not provide further information until it was published on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
PhosAgro Baltic
PhosAgro is one of the world’s leading producers of phosphate fertilisers.
Andrey Guryev, the head of PhosAgro, is on the EU sanctions list. He resigned following the imposition of sanctions.
Vladimir Kolesnikov, head of PhosAgro Baltic, said he disagreed with the FNTT’s decision to freeze the company’s assets and intended to appeal it to the court.
Vladimir Litvinenko, an academic from St Petersburg, who supervised an allegedly plagiarised dissertation by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is also linked to PhosAgro. He made a fortune after acquiring shares in PhosAgro under questionable circumstances.
In April 2022, Litvinenko transferred 20.6 percent of his 20.98 percent stake in PhosAgro to his wife Tatiana Litvinenko.
Birių Krovinių Terminalas (Bulk Cargo Terminal, BKT)
BKT is a Klaipėda Port operator that used to handle Belaruskali fertilisers.
Belaruskali is one of the largest state-owned companies in Belarus. It is also one of the world’s largest producers of potash fertiliser. It owns 30 percent stake in BKT.
The rest was owned by Lithuanian businessman Igor Udovickij. According to the Centre of Registers, 65 percent of his shares were taken over by Asset Management, registered in Latvia, in November 2020, and by Hasenberg AG, registered in Switzerland, in January this year.
The transfer of the company’s management to Switzerland took place before the EU imposed sanctions on Belaruskali in March this year.
Santa Trade
Santa Group is a holding company established in 1993. It consists of more than 40 companies, including raw material suppliers, finished product manufacturers, logistics, retail, and other companies.
The company operates one of Europe’s largest processing plants in Brest, in western Belarus. The Group employs more than 5,000 people.
Mida LT
Mida LT is owned by the TechnoNICOL corporation that consists of 57 factories in seven countries (Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, and Poland). It also has 22 representative offices in 18 countries.
TechnoNICOL has contributed to the construction of the US Embassy in Russia, the Moscow Duma, the Kremlin Palace, the Moscow Business District, etc.
Belintertrans Baltic
The state-owned company BTLC currently operates branches in all regional centres of Belarus, regional factories and freight points, as well as a network of foreign-based companies.
The company provides services for freight and container transport, customs clearance, cargo insurance, etc.
Mechel Nemunas
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a Lithuanian citizen Mindaugas Damalakas replaced a Russian citizen Sergey Fedorov as head of Mechel Nemunas.
Mechel is one of Russia’s largest metallurgical companies. Its products are sold in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa.
Russia’s Gazprombank held a 9.3 percent stake in Mechel until last year. As of February 2022, Gazprombank’s stake in the company had fallen to 6.8 percent.
IDS Borjomi Europe
The sanctioned Alfa Group, a pro-Kremlin investment group, acquired IDS Borjomi in 2013 when Inna Gudavadze sold them more than half of the shares.
In May, it was announced that the Georgian government was taking over a majority stake in one of the group’s companies, IDS Borjomi Georgia.
At the end of April, Borjomi announced that it was temporarily suspending production at its two plants in Georgia due to the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russian-owned companies.
EuroChem Logistics International
According to representatives of EuroChem Logistics International in Lithuania, a decision on the appointment of the company’s provisional administrator is pending.
The activities of the company, which used to handle Lifosa’s cargo, are currently on hold.
“The company has no plans to cease its activities in Lithuania at the moment. However, if the company is not placed under provisional administration or sanctions are not lifted, the company will have to be liquidated in the future or will face bankruptcy,” the representatives of EuroChem Logistics International told the LRT Investigation Team.
Transchema
As of the end of 2021, 40 percent of the Lithuanian company’s shares are held by KRION, a company registered in Belarus, with the remaining 60 percent held by Belarus’ Gomel chemical plant.
Both companies belong to Belneftekhim, the Belarusian Association of Petrochemical Enterprises, which is subordinate to the Belarusian Council of Ministers.
SUEK Baltic
Before the imposition of the EU sanctions, SUEK Baltic exported coal to Estonia and Latvia. It also sold fertilisers purchased from third countries in Lithuania and Poland.
In 2019, the Lithuanian company established a branch in the United Kingdom – SUEK Baltic UK – which employs one person.
Jurby Water Tech
The main shareholder of Jurby Water Tech and related companies is Victor Redko, who has had a residence permit in Lithuania since 1995. He is a British citizen, who says he lost his Russian citizenship after leaving the armed forces and “for other reasons”.
Redko set up Jurby Water Tech 30 years ago in post-independence Lithuania after leaving the Soviet army. Although it worked with strategic companies in the country, its biggest customers are in Russia.
Redko was involved in a paratroopers’ organisation under the auspices of the Russian Defence Ministry and was awarded a medal shortly before the occupation of Crimea. This organisation publicly declared its support for Putin at the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
FoamLine
FoamLine is the leading producer of polyurethane foam in Eastern Europe. The company has 12 plants in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Serbia, employing 1,200 people.
ANI Plast
ANI Plast is the leader in the sanitary ware segment in Russia. The company produces 20 million units a year. Lithuania’s ANI Plast also has a branch in Kyiv – STP Plast.
Valientė
The company manages 19 Mere retail shops in Lithuania that are owned by the Russian capital company Svetofor.
Svetofor has stores in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, and occupied Crimea.
Uniflex Europe
Uniflex is the market leader in label printing in Belarus. It produces packaging and labels for food, chemical, and cosmetic products. Uniflex is also one of the biggest companies in the industry in Russia.
On May 26 this year, an unknown Latvian citizen, Ana Alekseyeva, took over the shares of the Lithuanian company Uniflex Europe.
Run Engineering
Run Engineering was exporting water treatment equipment designed in Lithuania to Russia.
Last summer, the LRT Investigation Team reported that the company’s water filtration equipment may have ended up in power plants built in Crimea.
Povilas Medekša, head of Run Engineering, said “the company has restricted its activities, laid off a large part of its staff, and is preparing for bankruptcy”.
Amkodor Baltic
Belarusian holding company Amkodor specialises in road construction, snow-clearing, forestry, and other special machinery.
Amkodor Baltic, based in the Vilnius district, operates a collection centre for Belarusian tractors and other machinery in Lithuania.
Alexander Shakutin, a shareholder of the holding company Amkodor and head of the Board of Directors, is included in the EU sanctions lists. He is a member of Lukashenko’s inner circle and has been identified as one of the biggest financiers of the Belarusian regime.
Jūrų laivybos registras (Maritime Shipping Register)
The Russian Maritime Register works with high-tech icebreakers and ice-resistant equipment to develop offshore oil and gas fields.
The company participated in the creation of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) and was its member until March 2022, when IACS decided to suspend the Russian registry’s membership due to war in Ukraine. The EU has also imposed sanctions on the Russian Maritime Register.
Aleksandr Mitin, head of the Lithuanian Maritime Shipping Register, said that efforts are currently underway to continue the main work on the certification of ships and their equipment: “We are working hard with the FNTT to ensure that we do not violate the restrictions imposed on our company. Our main objective is to keep our jobs and continue to provide services to our clients.”
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