Negotiator with Shoigu, relative of Bakanov, partner of Zelenskyys – who is Beliaiev, who appeared in treason case?
At the end of October, it became known that Oleksandr Beliaiev, the brother-in-law of former SSU head Ivan Bakanov, was preparing for negotiations with the Russian leadership in 2019-2020, up to the level of meetings with Russian Defense Minister Shoigu.
An analytical note about this was published by Oleh Kulinich, who is accused of treason. This is part of the materials contained on the flash drive that became evidence against Kulinich in the treason case, where he is accused of collaborating with Volodymyr Sivkovych and the FSB.
The accused Kulinich said in court that if the flash drive was to be believed, then the materials on the other defendants should also be believed. He was the first to hand over his brother-in-law Ivan Bakanov Beliaiev, who was allegedly authorized to negotiate by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself. According to the readout, the president allegedly wanted to make Beliaiev his own oligarch and sent him to Moscow for negotiations. In particular, regarding the release of sailors in 2019.
Kulinich also stated that he would insist on questioning Beliaiev in court. After that, Kulinich's trial was closed to journalists on 16 November.
During the last open court session, Kulinich was unable to explain to Censor.NET why, out of all the defendants in the flash drive - which contained files on the President, the former head of the SSU, Prime Minister Shmyhal, and the head of the OP Andrii Yermak - he chose an unknown relative of the head of the SSU. Why did he draw attention to this particular person?
However, it seems that this was not accidental. After all, if you pull any available strings from this man's biography, you will at least see the skeleton of the corruption system that has been operating in Ukraine for years. And if you go further, some of the threads still lead to Moscow.
Rest without underwear and millions for Zelenskyy
Currently, very little information about Beliaiev can be found on the Internet. Prior to Kulinich's statements, he was mentioned in only three cases.
The media mentioned that he was a relative of Bakanov (they are married to siblings) and that he was an advisor to the head of the SSU. 2 years ago, People's Deputy Geo Leros released a video filmed on a hidden camera, where Beliaiev's partner Hennadii Lazutin tells how Beliaiev "is being cheated on schemes in the SSU".
"I have a partner. Sasha Beliaiev. He's already 'cheated' the SSU for a certain amount of money. Vania decides only through the First. No matters who is f..king lie to you. The First and Serhii Shefir decide," says Lazutin.
Lazutin and Beliaiev are long-term partners.
Both Lazutin and Beliaiev are from Kryvyi Rih. They like to call themselves the first sponsors of Kvartal. If you listen to the same video, you'll see how Lazutin transported the first half million dollars from Donetsk for Kvartal 95.
Lazutin, Beliaiev, and Bakanov were also caught up in an attempt to raid a hydroelectric power plant owned by businessman Ihor Tynnyi. You can read the epic story of how the businessmen made money on the hydroelectric power plant and then, under Bakanov, the head of the SSU, opened a bunch of cases against their opponent here.
The third mention of Beliaiev's name relates to a drunken party of naked men on Lake Svityaz, to which the police were called. Among the participants, the local press identified the son of former Deputy Minister of Coal Industry Viktor Shaitan, the chairman of the board of Naftokhimik Prykarpattya, Oleksandr Shyliaiev, the son of former SSU chief Viktor Radchenko, and Oleksandr Beliaiev.
The party took place in 2017, and in 2019, not only Beliaiev but also Radchenko began to be mentioned in the context of the so-called back office of the SSU head.
By the way, it is believed that it was thanks to Viktor Radchenko's connections that Beliaev, Lazutin and Bakanov managed to avoid responsibility in the SSU case of the Bohuslavska and Dybynetska hydroelectric power plants, which the dealers received for nothing from the State Property Fund.
According to Kulinich, who is accused of treason, he met Beliaiev at Volodymyr Zelenskyy's campaign headquarters. The latter worked there "as one of the organizers of the presidential campaign, who participated in key negotiations. Both in Ukraine and abroad."
At the same time, the author did not speak to any of the representatives of Zelenskyy's staff. And no one could remember either Kulinich or Beliaiev. "Maybe they were doing something, but not what we were doing. I'll tell you that we didn't see Bakanov, the chief of staff, much either," said one of the interlocutors.
"I heard about Beliaiev after Zelenskyy's victory and in a very specific way - people in uniform came to us and showed us a certificate of flights to Moscow and trips there in cars with license plates that do not crash. Moreover, they received this information from Western sources," the informant told Censor.NET.
According to him, Beliaiev was close to the president because of his previous business history. "They were spending their money on fish then on restaurants. As I understand it, Beliaiev helped them when they were working in Moscow," the source said.
Business partner of the President and the Russians
Beliaiev, or to be precise, his family, was indeed involved in the president's business. But not through restaurants. But directly.
Since Beliaiev has closed access to his social media, we can learn about him mostly by analyzing his business connections.
He has 14 companies registered in Ukraine. Most of them are now in a state of termination.
The same number of companies are associated with Beliaiev's wife Svitlana, a Russian citizen née Lazarenko, who's sister is Ivan Bakanov's wife.
Some of the Beliaievs' companies are included in the 95 Kvartal group, according to youcontrol. There are some famous people among their business partners. For example, former football player Vladyslav Vashchuk and former head of the Football Federation of Ukraine Andrii Pavelko.
There were also Russian citizens among Beliaiev's partners, in particular, Viatchyn Serhii Vasylovych and Olena Liesnova in Yamato Ukraine LLC.
But that's not all. For some time, Beliaiev had quite close ties to a certain Eduard Prutnik, a member of Yanukovych's team, Serhii Lovochkin's compadre, and a man with quite extensive business ties in Russia. Prutnik wrote out powers of attorney for Beliaiev.
Also, at the beginning of the article, a certain Oleksandr Shaitan was mentioned in the context of the underwear-free vacation, who during 2017-2018 held the position of deputy director of the State Enterprise "Derzhvuhlepostach" and reported to Fedotov, Prutnik's trustee.
Part of the Beliaievs' business in Ukraine was related to hydroelectric power plants, part to trade, and part to the construction business.
Among the companies are two with rather exotic names: LLC Altai, a project development company, and LLC Baikal-Invest (with a Classifier of economic activities for oil production and public opinion research). This is just so you understand that it was not only his Russian wife who linked Beliaiev to the aggressor country.
2 of these companies - Enerhotek and Industrial and Commercial Firm EcoEnergy LLC - were involved in a conflict with businessman Ihor Tynnyi, where Ivan Bakanov acted as Beliaiev's lawyer.
Both companies were offshore in 2011-2012. Let's be honest - this also characterizes the owner quite well. For example, Enerhotek was registered with NewBridge Technologies in the United States, Beverly Hills (where Beliaiev's sister lives), and Ecoinvest LLC was registered with Carat Consulting & Trading Limited in the United Kingdom.
According to the UK trade register, the director of Carat Consulting & Trading Limited since 21.07.2016 was Zhurbenko Viktor Oleksandrovych, a native of Donetsk, a former citizen of Ukraine and now a citizen of the Russian Federation. And the most interesting thing is that before becoming the director of the energy company, the man, according to the job search site, applied for the position of... restaurant administrator.
In addition to business in Ukraine, Beliaev also had companies abroad. For example, he has been the founder of the Spanish company Berit Euroinversiones since 2009. His partner there is none other than the former deputy head of the Presidential Office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
But this is not the most interesting connection of the Beliaevs. Svitlana Beliaieva is one of the founders of Fish House LLC (now Retin LLC), a share in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy owned until 2019.
In addition to Beliaieva, the business partners of the future president of Fish House LLC were the Shefir brothers, as well as Nataliia Lazutina and Pikalov Oleksandr Viktorovych, an actor from Kvartal-95 Studio.
Lazutina is the wife of the same Lazutin mentioned at the beginning of the article. He is Beliaiev's business partner in HPP.
In Beliaiev's wife's profile, you can find joint photos with the spouses of the Kvartal members and Olena Zelenska, as well as congratulations from the first lady on the children's birthdays. This is another proof of Beliaiev's closeness to the president.
But it is unknown whether this person remains in the president's entourage.
Censor.NET sent a request to the presidential press service about Beliaiev more than a month ago. However, neither the press service nor Mykhailo Podoliak has responded to the request.
Therefore, we had to be satisfied with the response of other structures.
"We checked Beliaiev. He was indeed prepared for talks with Shoigu, but they did not take place. I think they realized that he was a scammer. Now the president does not communicate with him," said a law enforcement source.
Beliaiev and the SSU
The history of relations between Beliaiev and the SSU is quite interesting. Several times he was mentioned in the media as Bakanov's advisor.
When the author published a text about Kulinich, one of the high-ranking law enforcement officials of the time sent the following message: "I became aware of Beliaiev's surname in 2019. He and Radchenko Jr. were sitting in the back office recruiting for the SSU for a lieutenant. One was interested in dirt, the other in money."
Later, these two were joined by Andrii Naumov, who, according to one version, was also brought by Beliaiev.
Former SSU employees say that it was almost impossible to get an interview with the head of the SSU, Bakanov, without the consent of his brother-in-law, Beliaiev.
For this, he was allegedly nicknamed "testing-lady" (by analogy with Praskovya Bruce at the court of Catherine II).
The author has heard the version that Beliaiev was responsible for the dismissal of Major General Oleksii Petrov, later the head of the Zakarpattia Regional State Administration and now the head of Ukrspetstechnoexport, from the position of director of the SSU's Counterintelligence Department and from the central office of the special service in general.
Petrov himself denied this version of the dismissal in a comment to Censor.NET and said that he had resigned himself.
Another source in the authorities described Beliaiev a little more easily.
"According to my information, Beliaiev was not an official full-time adviser to former SSU head Bakanov. He tried to influence personnel policy more than he actually did. Beliaiev wanted to benefit from his acquaintance with Bakanov and influence various processes, tried to solve some issues on his own, hiding behind his acquaintance with him," the source said.
"But it was more his personal desire as a swindler to benefit here and now. For example, he took money for assistance in getting appointed to a government position, but he failed. When Bakanov found out about such schemes, he "gave the brush" to Beliaiev. He is unlikely to have anything to do with Naumov's appointment," the law enforcement officer said.
Bakanov himself, when asked by Censor.NET, replied that Beliaiev was not his advisor and that he had not been in contact with this person for several years.
"As far as I understand, you are asking about Beliaiev Oleksandr Volodymyrovych? If it is someone else, please specify. Firstly, I know this person as the husband of my wife's sister, with whom I have not communicated for several years. Secondly, he has never been my full-time or freelance advisor, so you will not find any documents in the SSU that could testify to this," Bakanov wrote.
"Accordingly, the aforementioned Beliaiev has never worked in the SSU office and did not have a mandate or any instructions from me. I have no idea about any of his possible trips to Moscow and their purpose," he added.
At the same time, as the author of the material learned, from 2015 to 2020, Beliaiev made 13 such trips. This includes a trip to Crimea, where Beliaiev has property.
Considering Kulinich's publicized reports of talks with Beliaiev in Moscow, such trips no longer seem surprising. The question is what exactly he negotiated there. After all, he could have been running business orders there that were very interesting to the Russians.
Making money on gas and blood - who are Beliaiev's Czech partners?
Now, according to Censor.NET's sources, Beliaiev is living abroad - in the Czech Republic. It is unknown when he left. He was last seen in Rudyky, where he has a house, in August 2022. The same question is how he left. Even though Beliaiev has three children, he does not qualify for a permit for parents with many children, because his daughters are already of the full legal age.
Beliaiev is private on social media. Even his Alex Bronco profile is closed. His wife's profile shows that at least not so long ago they lived in the Czech Republic. The profiles of his daughters were opened on December 25, and they show that they are very active in traveling the world - they live in Paris, Switzerland, or on the seaside.
At the same time, it is striking to see who is liking their daughters' pages. There are not only the Kvartal members and Vashchuk, but also Vadym Alperin, the main figure on the presidential list of smugglers. And Yevhen Larin, the former head of Spetstechnoexport, who was fired for inflating ammunition prices and fled to the Czech Republic. Since these are not the pages of public figures, where you can see rather random likes, one gets the impression of a certain circle of acquaintances.
In January 2024, Belyaev's daughters suddenly closed their Facebook profiles.
However, it is much more interesting to know who Beliaiev does business in Europe.
In the Czech Republic, Beliaiev owns two companies - LEO INTERNATIONAL GRUPP and ILS INVESTMENT GROUP.
Beliaiev joined ILS INVESTMENT GROUP only this year. Among his partners is Oleksandr Melnychuk. There is only one mention of this person in the publications (more on that later). The second partner is Klishchar Vladyslav Leonidovych, a former assistant to Party of Regions deputy Oleksandr Yedin and a trustee in the presidential election of Serhii Taruta.
In addition to Beliaiev and Klishchar Vladyslav, Oleksandr Bezzubets and Leonid Klishchar (son of Vladyslav Klishchar) are also involved in the management of LEO INTERNATIONAL GRUP.
As Censor.NET previously wrote, Klishchar was involved in at least two very doubtful transactions.
In addition to his joint business with Beliaiev, Klishchar is the owner of two other companies - EPI Group s.r.o. and Belanto.
These are the same companies through which 118 million was stolen by underpricing ilmenite, which was sold to these companies by the state-owned United Mining and Chemical Company.
The companies are involved in the investigation of former State Property Fund chairman Dmytro Sennychenko.
According to the NABU investigation, the acting director of UMCC (United Mining and Chemical Company) JSC, pursuant to Sennychenko's instructions, deliberately entered into four contracts for the sale of ilmenite concentrate in 2020-2021 with the Czech company EPI Group s.r.o., controlled by Sennychenko's advisor Pavlo Prysiazhniuk, at reduced prices. This product was then resold at market prices.
Prysiazhniuk was an adviser to Sennychenko, who, according to the investigation, was advised by Serhii Shefir. Censor.NET's sources named Prysiazhniuk as the informal supervisor of the former head of the State Property Fund, Sennychenko, in organizing the schemes for the UMCC.
As the investigation established, the ilmenite concentrate was then supplied to Russian enterprises and to the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea. Ilmenite is used, among other things, in the production of missiles. In other words, the criminals were not just robbing the state, they were making a business out of the future blood of Ukrainians, which will be shed in a full-scale war starting in 2022.
It is not known whether the NABU and the SSU continue to work on these ilmenite transactions. But the story has caught the interest of the Czech Republic's national organized crime department, which has launched a preliminary criminal investigation into the violation of international sanctions on trade with Russia.
Beliaiev's partner Klishchar also has business in Ukraine. And in several companies there, his partner is Volodymyr Kolot, who is also the founder of Agro Gas Trading, another company involved in the NABU case that robbed the Odesa Portside Plant. And whose leaders were suspected in the same NABU case. However, they all miraculously managed to flee abroad at that time.
Beliaiev's Czech firms have another partner, a certain Oleksandr Bezzubets. A few years ago, when BELANTO wanted to participate in the privatization of the UMCC, Bezzubets represented the company at a press conference as a lawyer.
Previously, he was a director of Target Group LLC, founded by Hmyryn's son-in-law Volodymyr Kolot.
Therefore, the Czech business history of Oleksandr Beliaiev is very closely connected to the activities of the Hmyryn group.
In the NABU case, Hmyryn is charged as an organizer of a criminal group. It was Hmyryn who brought Sennychenko the scheme of Agro Gas Trading's entry into the tolling scheme at the Odesa Portside Plant (OPP), and on the other hand, he managed to organize a "blanket of protection" for this process on Bankova Street. At the same time, Hmyryn expanded his network not only in Ukraine but also in the Czech Republic. Apparently, through Klishchar and Prysiazhniuk.
As far as the author knows, Beliaiev also appears in the materials of the criminal intelligence and surveillance operations in the Sennychenko case. However, neither he nor Klishchar were suspected.
There is one more nuance: stealing from state-owned enterprises is not allowed without the SSU's knowledge. And if this agency did not stop this scheme 3 years ago, it means that someone in it was in the know and hold interest in it.
Therefore, the version that Beliaiev had no influence on the work of the SSU is a bit poor.
And a few more cherries on the top of the cake, so that you don't think that the mention of Beliaiev in the context of the State Property Fund and the Odesa Portside Plant is a coincidence.
According to information from the publication's sources, in February 2020, Beliaiev was accompanied by a certain Yevhen Astashev on one of his trips to Russia. The latter is a former military officer who worked in senior positions at the Radian plant and the Concern Voenpromservice association. In 2017-2019, he was deputy chairman of the State Property Fund and was in charge of corporate governance of state-owned enterprises. But the most interesting thing is that from May 2017 to July 2019, Astashev chaired the Supervisory Board of the Odesa Portside Plant.
The publication also has Sennychenko's power of attorney for Hennadii Lazutin, Beliaiev's long-term business partner.
After all, Beliaiev and Lazutin have long been members of the State Property Fund, as they received the Bohuslavska and Dybynetska hydroelectric power plants for nothing.
Similarly, it is hardly a coincidence that Beliaiev's presence in two companies with Hmyryn's associates in the schemes with the Odesa Portside Plant and the sale of ilmenite is a coincidence. In companies that don't even have their own websites. And they do not publish job vacancies. And they are located at the same address.
But the State Property Fund case is not the only one. A month ago, Censor.NET published a story about how Beliaiev's partner Klishchar was on the supervisory board of a Slovak company that was used to withdraw money for weapons that the Ministry of Defense had paid to Lviv Arsenal. As part of the money transfers between intermediary companies, 4 million euros disappeared somewhere. And the weapons were never delivered to Ukraine.
Almost on the same days, another story about Klishchar, Beliaiev, and Bezzubets was published. A website called blackboxosint, which has only two articles, posted that these businessmen wanted to buy a share of Parimatch from its founder, Eduard Schwindlerman. As you know, sanctions were imposed against this company in March in Ukraine.
"They introduced themselves to Parimatch employees as CIA officers and European intelligence officers. At the same time, they were presented to Parimatch's shareholders as investors with connections in the governments of the United States, Europe and Ukraine. There is practically no information about Oleksandr Melnychuk in the public domain, and the analysis of data from open state registers suggests that this person leads a very secretive lifestyle. Since 2015, there has been no information about Oleksandr Melnychuk's official employment in Ukraine, however, according to some reports, he is introduced as an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine," the article says.
So, what do we have?
Since 2019, Bankova Street has had information about Beliaiev's strange travels in Moscow. But if they reacted to them, it was not immediately.
For many years, Belyaev's business has been associated with dubious schemes.
His Czech partners are involved in at least 2 criminal proceedings in Ukraine, which, in particular, involve the supply of goods for the manufacture of Russian weapons. The same people are involved in companies that have disrupted contracts for the supply of weapons to Ukraine. As part of this, millions of euros disappeared. And the same people may be trying to get shares in one of the largest gambling operators, which has been sanctioned for its ties to Russia.
However, as the publication's interlocutors assured, there are currently no criminal proceedings against Belialiev in matters that fall under the SSU's jurisdiction.
"In the materials on Kulinich's case, he appears in the context of possible participation in negotiations for the release of Ukrainian sailors. But in the end, when it became clear who Belialiev really is, he was dismissed from this process," the source added.
However, the way Ukrainian law enforcement officers turn a blind eye to the activities of Belialiev's partners' companies raises many questions. Why is that, and who helped all these people get into Bankova Street in the first place?
But it is quite logical why the Russian agents pulled out this particular card.
The author contacted Oleksandr Beliaiev for comment, but he did not respond.
Tetiana Nikolaienko, Censor.NET
