Holy accounting
As of late, the St. Elisabeth Convent (SEC) has attracted the attention of Belarusians with its controversial activities. Andrei Lemiashonak, the leader, supported the mass repression of civil society in 2020. The cloister got involved in sending aid to Russian soldiers when Russia launched its attack on Ukraine. We examined this organisation and discovered a full-fledged Orthodox holding company.
This investigation will explain the laws that govern this state of its own, who benefits from it and how it makes millions of dollars through questionable means. But also how the sympathies of Lukashenko's family and entourage fit into the picture.
We are grateful to Christian vision and CyberPartisans for their help in the preparation of this piece.
For seven decades before the collapse of the USSR, the Orthodox Church was under the stress of atheism and the brutal repression of the Soviet leaders. In the late 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev, proclaimed the policies of glasnost and perestroika, thus initiating a revival of religious life. The church began to actively interact with state institutions and re-establish dialogue with society. When a new independent republic emerged from the ruins of the old civilization, many former Soviet citizens felt a strong spiritual need and turned to God.
Source: obitel-minsk.ru
Daria Alkhovik was among them. In the early 90s, she began her spiritual journey and wished to take catechism classes. The woman requested a blessing from Father Andrei Lemiashonak. He replied:
“If you want to work hard, take an alms box and go stand at the Chervenski Market. So much for those catechists”.
Our investigation has revealed that the convent’s concept is based on the idea that the temple of God is not just a place of power. It’s also a source of multi-million dollar revenue.
FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, RELIEVE MY BURDEN
Andrei Lemiashonak (in the centre) and the nuns of the convent. Source: obitel-minsk.ru
This orthodox holding company has about 1,600 employees. According to three independent sources, the SEC has been double-entry bookkeeping to avoid paying taxes for its employees.
The convent has been deliberately underestimating the tax burden, several former employees of the religious organisation told Buro. The salary of an SEC employee is conventionally divided into two parts: 15% and 85%. 15% is the declared salary. After deductions to the state budget, it is officially credited to the employee.
“The money was good, but most of it wasn’t officially taxed. I worked in this structure for a very long time, but I did not earn anything for my retirement”, one of our sources told us.
Simple calculations suggest that if every employee at the convent were to receive the minimum wage in 2023, the monastery’s monthly salary expenditure would be around $300,000, or a little more than $3.5 million per year. In 2024, based on the minimum wage rate set by the Council of Ministers, the SEC could spend just over $310,000 per month or nearly $3,760,000 per year on salaries. In practice, employee expenses are much higher, but they choose to conceal this from Belarusian authorities.
Most of the wages that the SEC doesn’t report to the tax office are under-the-table pay. This amount is reported as a “charitable donation for church services”, according to our source.
In a conversation with Buro, Andrei Lemiashonak denied paying cash-in-hand salaries:
“No, we don’t pay [envelope wages]. We pay the official rate, and if someone does extra work or performs exceptionally well, we pay them extra”.
Andrei Lemiashonak. Source: obitel-minsk.ru
Let's dive into the miraculous cycle of donations at St. Elisabeth's Convent.
As we discovered, the SEC is not paying all the taxes for its employees. However, this is not the only way the convent is saving money. To avoid paying income taxes, the cloister disguises income as donations. Let’s look at a few examples.
In June 2023, SEC organised a summer camp for teenagers at its Kovcheg Centre. Parents who wished to enrol their child were urged to make a “recommended donation” of either 250 or 450 rubles for 5 or 10 days, respectively. Persons who made early bookings were eligible for the same “donation” amount.
In November 2023, Kovcheg issued a call for participation in a master class by a watercolour artist. To take part, one was asked to "donate" 5 rubles for a child or 10 rubles for an adult. The artist provided paints and paper. If a participant brought their materials, the "donation" amount was reduced.
“To avoid taxes, you can label this payment as a donation, debt repayment, or anything else. The important thing here is that if a service was provided for free and you could choose to give whatever amount you wanted, without a “recommendation” of any kind, then it would be considered a donation. If they require proof of payment before providing a service, then it is not a donation but a commercial transaction”, explains economist Uladzimir Kavalkin, head of the Kosht Urada project.
The SEC is essentially substituting concepts. The words "price" or "fee" are changed to "donation". This means that the money is not considered as profit from the provision of services or commercial activities, on which income tax is required to be paid. Instead, it is considered a donation, which is not taxable.
“This is probably sanctioned by the authorities, who ignore the fact that a fully-fledged business is operating under the guise of a church, which is no different from any other business. A typical scheme for the Russian Orthodox Church", says Uladzimir Kavalkin.
The scheme works in the convent’s outlets as well. According to our sources, the places where the cloister’s products are sold, including regular trading facilities and fairs, do not have cash registers. Instead, purchases are typically processed as donations.
“They aim to keep official documents, profit registration, and tax payments to a minimum. Most of it is black cash, but of course, they pay taxes where necessary. The principle of conducting all convent's business is the less official, the better. From a financial point of view, they will always do things in a way that benefits them. And they will disregard the law if it doesn't suit them", our monastic source believes.
Pretending to be customers, we made a “test purchase” and found that there were no non-cash payment terminals or cash registers in several establishments in the vicinity of the convent on Vygotsky Street. In the shops Convent Garden, Ella and Crosses and Monuments, as well as in the convent’s inn Pilgrims’ House, we were offered to pay in cash.
The stores Ella and Convent Garden confirmed that they do not have a non-cash payment terminal, only cash was accepted. In addition, Convent Garden offered our “customer” to pay for the goods via the United Payment and Information Space platform. However, the payment was supposed to be marked as a “Donation”.
At the store Crosses and Monuments, the Buro’s secret buyer was advised to pay for the granite tombstone in cash or donate the amount to the convent. However, the seller mentioned that this “could take time and be inconvenient”. It is better to give him cash or transfer money to his card.
We also attempted to book a room at the convent's inn. The receptionist explained that card payments were not possible at the inn:
“You pay upon arrival in cash in Belarusian [rubles]. The official receipt is not provided. We can only issue an invoice for your donation to the convent, as an act of charity”.
When the client asked what the reason for such a policy was, the answer was: “Well, we have it that way, it is treated as a donation to the convent”.
Buro additionally analyzed customer reviews in Yandex.Maps and Google Maps. Visitors to the convent’s retail facilities have repeatedly complained about the lack of non-cash payment terminals and receipts.
In 2022, a hotel guest left an outraged comment stating that there was “the administrator was incompetent and did not know the room prices. They tell you one thing on the phone and it appears to be something else in reality. What if a guest is not a local and has exactly as many Belarusian rubles as the administrator said to withdraw when booking over the phone?”
Exactly one year later, another guest also noted cash-only payment at the inn.
The convent’s shops thus accept primarily cash payments, and the amount of cash can only be traced by the state authorities – if they cared to, believes Uladzimir Kavalkin, head of the Kosht Urada project and an economist:
“They [the law enforcement] use their own methodology to calculate damages and underpaid taxes based on observed accounting and inventory discrepancies. As they [law enforcement agencies] have already applied these measures to businesses – and in this case, this is just another business – it is feasible to apply them to other market participants without issue”.
In a conversation with Buro, Archpriest Andrei Lemiashonak admitted that the convent’s retail facilities do not have non-cash payment terminals:
“It’s just we are a bit sluggish. We certainly need to act quicker and provide payment options that align with modern commerce. And there’s a lot we need to fix in that area”.
THE CENSER IS SPINNING...
Let’s examine the financial statements of the legal entities linked to the convent closely. We discovered seven such companies. There were no reports from some of these organisations, but we obtained documents from four organisations.
In Russia, SEC has owned the Istochnik publishing house since 2017.
The company's revenue increased by almost 30% to 240.8 thousand dollars in 2022, and net income increased by almost 4% to 17.8 thousand dollars. For 2021 and 2022, the company paid nearly $24,000 in taxes. This looks legit.
The situation regarding Belarusian legal entities linked to the SEC differs. For example, the unitary enterprise Imeni Pravednogo Ioanna Russkogo produces movies and videos.
In 2022, the organisation’s revenue increased by 38% to 163,000 rubles. The entity made a profit of 116,000 rubles but did not pay taxes.
Natalia Lashuk holds the position of director at the firm. She is a nun at the St. Elisabeth Convent. We were unable to reach her for comment.
There are tax issues with another organisation associated with the convent, the Monastyrskoe Podvorye agricultural enterprise.
The entity is not the property of the convent, but of the nun, Maria Huskova, who is also listed as the manager. Monastyrskoe Podvorye produces kefir, milk, cottage cheese, bread, confectionery, soft cheeses, butter, and sour cream. The organisation has two food preparation shops in Minsk on Vygotsky Street, licensed to produce meat, fish and confectionery. Monastyrskoe Podvorye comprises the 200-seat Kovcheg cafe, located in the spiritual and educational centre of the same name, and a grocery store, also named Monastyrskoe Podvorye.
In 2022, they reported revenue of 2.36 million rubles and 388,000 rubles of net profit. The organisation paid 89,000 rubles in profits tax at the standard rate. But for some reason, the entity did not pay income tax in 2021.
The director of the company, nun Maria Huskova, suggested to Buro that this circumstance was related to tax relief. However, the relief period for Monastyrskoe Podvorye should have ended back in 2020. Huskova did not explain whether it had been extended or not.
When Buro asked Andrei Lemiashonak why Monastyrskoe Podvorye did not pay income tax in 2021, the head of SEC said that it is the organisation actually that should be paid extra for all its good deeds. Probably Andrei Lemiashonak is referring to the residents who live and work in Monastyrskoe Podvorye.
Men’s Farmstead. Source: obitel-minsk.ru
The farm itself is located in the village of Lysaya Hara in the Minsk Region. The nearby lands belong to the Sisterhood In Honour Of The Holy Martyr Grand Princess Elisabeth, which Archpriest Lemiashonak founded in 1994. In total, over 300 hectares of land have been registered for the Sisterhood. To give you an idea of the size of the agroholding: this area is equivalent to 64 Dynamo stadiums in the Belarusian capital. The SEC makes money from this land, but by law, the religious organisation does not pay a single ruble of land tax on this property.
Lysaya Hara is home to people in difficult circumstances: those who have lost their homes, those who have been released from prison, those who suffer from alcoholism or drug addiction, and those with disabilities. The convent provides them with clothing, food, and personal hygiene items. The residents can also work for the benefit of the convent. Farmstead residents raise cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and chickens, grow root crops and annual and perennial grasses, take care of apples and pears, garden raspberries and currants, and work in beekeeping, greenhouses and construction. Icon, stone, locksmith, carpentry and sewing workshops also operate on the farm.
Men’s Farmstead. Source: obitel-minsk.ru
“When this rehabilitation centre was set up, the idea was to help people who struggled to find their way back to society. But it doesn’t really work to that end. These people are not socialised in any way, they are not cured of their addictions. Someone drank himself to death in the farmstead – not a big deal. It turns out that what the whole thing was designed to do doesn’t work at all. It only works to get funding and publicity [to tell sponsors], like look how great we did here”, says a source at SEC.
The convent takes great pride in this social responsibility and organises fundraising events for the needs of the residents at every opportunity. Including during overseas tours. Even though SEC nuns organise fundraisers abroad claiming to rehabilitate the needy, in Belarus, SEC does not hide the lack of a rehabilitation programme.
“We don’t have rehabilitation programmes in place. We rather rely on the transformation a Christian life can bring. We rely on occupational therapy, as well as confession, communion and talks with priests and nuns”, said Maria Huskova, the owner and manager of the farmstead, who is also a nun at St. Elisabeth Convent.
About 150 people now live at the men's farmstead, she said. Some residents are formally employed, and some are not.
SEC #LEAVESNOMANBEHIND
Education is another of the convent's social focuses. SEC has its private school with an Orthodox orientation, Ichthys.
In the massive disruption of the private secondary education market in Belarus, it is one of the few to have survived.
In 2022, the school’s revenue increased by 28% to 878,000 rubles, but the organization reported no profit.
With low tuition fees, it has high costs. The school is aided by the convent.
But Father Lemiashonak is not concerned with the school’s negative balance sheet:
“It [the school] cannot be unprofitable, the children cannot be unprofitable. We need to help kids figure out what’s right and wrong. Terms such as ‘profitable/unprofitable’ are of no use to us at all”.
Speaking to Buro, Ichthys director and part-time SEC nun Tatsiana Antanovich clarified that the school serves an ideological function:
“We are not a profit-making institution. It’s an idea project. For the sake of the children, for the sake of the future” Antanovich said.
Since 2023, Ichthys students have been sponsoring the Russian-Ukrainian war directly and promoting the ideas of the “Russian world”. In September 2023, the students performed at the Radost festival, which included a charity concert for Donbas. The concert was titled “We Leave No Man Behind”.
Ichthys School students performed at the Radost Festival. Source: SEC Instagram account @ichthys_shkola
SEC organized an event for Defenders of the Fatherland Day in February 2024 at the Kovcheg Centre. The convent encouraged the children to create a musical composition with a military-patriotic theme. The videos were supposed to be labelled with a logo that combined the hashtag #ChildrenToWarriors and the letter Z.
Call out for participation in the song project "Children to Warriors!". Source: SEC instagram account @obitel_fest
For the contest call, SEC students performed a composition as a sample. The lines were as follows: “I am writing to say thank you – Russia – for a quiet life and a peaceful sky!”. The concert “We Leave No Man Behind” took place on February 23 at Kovcheg with the participation of Ichthys students under the Russian tricolour. Some flags also featured the letter Z in the colouring of the St. George's ribbons.
Concert "We Leave No Man Behind", timed to the Defender of the Fatherland Day. Source: obitel-minsk.ru
From February 18 to March 18, the Kovcheg hosted two exhibitions as part of the Aid to Brothers campaign: Eyes of the Unconquered Donbas and Coal of Donbas.
The ‘Eaglets’ movement, which appeared in SEC with the blessing of Andrei Lemiashonak, also raises their children in the same spirit. Eaglets, like Ichthys students, are also taught to love the “Russian Motherland”. In April 2023, the SEC encouraged young artists to create military-themed drawings for a contest. The winning works would be sent to the frontlines to comfort Russian soldiers.
During a class on homeland studies in January of this year, the “eaglets” created patriotic postcards to send to Russian soldiers.
Eaglets movement members design envelopes for soldiers at the front. Source: SEC Instagram account @dvizhenie_orlyata
The SEC organizes sporting events in addition to military-patriotic initiatives at the Ichthys School and Eaglets Camp. Ihar Sihnevich, world champion in kettlebell lifting, is in charge of the sports and patriotic programme. People close to Aleksandr Lukashenko, including some of his relatives, assist him in his endeavours.
NEW PROJECT OF LUKASHENKO’S RELATIVE
On 6 January 2024, Ihar Sihnevich published a post saying: “At St. Elisabeth’s Convent a meeting was held with the participation of Olympic boxers from the charity project “Children of Sports”, hockey players who work at BAM 24 car washes and the authors of an innovative educational project of Kalodzischy School No. 2. The participants discussed cooperation and promotion of the Eaglets youth movement”. The post included a photo of Ihar Sihnevich, athlete Vazgen Safaryants, SEC priest Andrei Lemiashonak and Uladzimir Kulakou, who is related to Lukashenko.
Meeting at the SEC. Source: Ihar Sihnevich's Instagram account
From left to right (sitting at the table): nun Rebecca (Pereira) (organiser of the Eaglets movement), Andrei Lemiashonak (SEC clergyman), Mother Superior ihumenia Eufrasinia (Laptsik), nun Mstsislava (Haradnichuk) (SEC economist), Uladzimir Kulakou (husband of Hanna Lukashenko’s sister)
From left to right (standing): Ihar Sihnevich (behind Lemiashonak), Vazgen Safaryants (to the right of Kulakou)
Uladzimir Kulakou is married to Tatsiana Kulakova, sister of Lukashenko’s daughter-in-law Hanna, who is married to Dzmitry Lukashenko. Kulakou owns 33.33% of the car wash company OOO Bystrye Avtomobilnye Moyki, while Mikalai Zarubitski, chairman of the republican public association Patriots of Belarus, owns 33.34% of the company.
Both Zarubitski and Kulakou are involved in the forced transfer of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories to Belarus.
OOO Bystrye Avtomobilnye Moyki sponsors a pedagogical project titled "Introducing a Model to Shape Students' Active Citizenship and Prepare Them to Implement Socially Significant Initiatives Using Social Creativity and Team-Building Technologies". The project is being implemented in 20 educational institutions across Belarus from 2023 to 2026.
It was the authors of this project who discussed the progress of the Eaglets with Lemiashonak. The project aims to “strengthen the institution of the family by implementing project and research activities in the field of health protection. This will be achieved through the introduction of social partnership and team-building technologies, with the interaction and support of social structures of the Patriots of Belarus society”.
Mentors of the innovative project lead classes with Eaglets at SEC. Source: Ihar Sihnevich's Instagram account
From left to right (adults): Vazgen Safaryants, Sister Rebecca (Pereira), Dzmitry Lemiashonak (son of Andrei Lemiashonak), Ihar Sihnevich
The programme’s second sponsor is ChP SigBel, a Belarus-based company that specializes in the wholesale and retail trade of car tyres, spare parts for agricultural machinery, and auto consumables. Ihar Sihnevich is the beneficiary of this company.
His Instagram account showed him in the company of Yulia and Dzmitry Kazakous, Dzmitry Baskau, Yauhen Nazarevich and Aliaksei Talai.
Source: Ihar Sihnevich's Instagram account
From left to right: Vazgen Safaryants, Viktar Lukashenko (son of Aleksandr Lukashenko, Chairman of the National Olympic Committee), Ihar Sihnevich
Source: Ihar Sihnevich's Instagram account
From left to right: Vazgen Safaryants, Dzmitry Baskau (head coach of Aleksandr Lukashenko's hockey team), Yauhen Nazarevich (member of the Presidential Sports Club, staff member of Aliaksei Talai Charitable Foundation), Ihar Sihnevich
Source: Ihar Sihnevich's Instagram account
Ihar Sihnevich (far left), Mikalai Zarubitski (tall man in a suit in the centre), Yulia Kazakova (brunette in a green suit – third from the right)
Source: Ihar Sihnevich's Instagram account
From left to right: Ihar Sihnevich, Mikalai Zarubitski, Natallia Eismant (Aleksandr Lukashenko's press secretary), Ivan Eismant (far right – Natallia Eismant's husband, chairman of the National State TV and Radio Company of Belarus)
Source: Ihar Sihnevich's Instagram account
From right to left: Dzmitry Kazakou (member of the Board of Trustees of the Aliaksei Talai Charitable Foundation, deputy of Mikalai Zarubitski at the Patriots of Belarus), Uladzimir Kulakou, Mikalai Zarubitski, Ihar Sihnevich (half seated), Vazgen Safaryants (far left)
All these people are part of the “rehabilitation schemes” of Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred from the Russian-occupied territories to Belarus.
Sihnevich is working with students and their legal representatives, in collaboration with titled Belarusian athletes Javid Hamzatau and Vazgen Safaryants as part of an innovative project.
Vazgen Safaryants is a Belarusian boxer and Merited Master of Sports. He has won multiple national and international tournaments. He holds the position of a representative for the Patriots of Belarus and is also the head of the Belarusian branch of the Russian non-profit foundation Sport Begins with Children, which supports the development of children's sports. The foundation implements the “Children of Sport” project, one that includes the promotion of the Orthodox Eaglets. The Russian foundation has branches in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, including the Donetsk People’s Republic, Mariupol, Zaporizhzhya Oblast, and Melitopol.
Sport Begins with Children was registered in 2020 in Moscow. Russian Anton Kabanov is one of the founders of the foundation.
The Myrotvorets Research Centre lists him as a Russian war criminal. He participated in the Russian-Belarusian aggression against Ukraine and is accused of committing genocide against the Ukrainian people. Myrotvorets reports that Kabanov served as a reconnaissance officer during combat operations in Ukraine and was awarded the “For Combat Merits” medal in 2022.
IN PERFECT HARMONY
On December 20, 2023, the clergy of the Minsk Eparchy held a meeting. Volha Chamadanava, the head of the main department of ideological work and youth affairs of the Minsk City Executive Committee and the press secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2020, was the VIP guest at the meeting. The official complained that 75% of church rectors in Minsk do not appear in state media. Only All Hallows Parish, whose clergyman is Archpriest Fiodar Pouny, known as “Lukashenko’s confessor”, and St. Elisabeth Convent are active.
Archpriest Andrei Lemiashonak is indeed more than happy to give interviews to pro-government publications. He supported the position of the Belarusian authorities, including Lukashenko, on various political issues before it became mainstream. As a result, St. Elisabeth’s has been at the centre of high-profile scandals on more than one occasion.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Minsk Convent began to support the Belarusian authorities on military matters. The SEC regularly organises military-patriotic events using the symbols of the so-called “special military operation” and collects donations, which are then sent to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories to buy vehicles for the Russian military. However, on their business trips abroad, the nuns for some reason do not advertise their support for Putin’s aggression, laconically referring to the activities of writer Mikalai Haurylau’s “Aid to Brothers” initiative as “help for Ukrainian refugees”.
“We stand for peace. We support the line of our president. White Rus, Great Rus, and Little Rus – Ukraine – are one people and one state. We will win in any case because God is with us. We help both the children of Donbas and the monastery of Donbas. It doesn't have to be military support. What do you mean by military? We help people who are fighting a liberation struggle, a civil war. People put money in the charity boxes – we pass it on. It's the people helping, not the convent helping. I am not responsible for this" commented Andrei Lemiashonak on the activities of the convent.
Lukashenko visits the St. Elisabeth Convent. Source: president.gov.by
On Christmas Day 2023, Lukashenko visited the convent and praised the Minsk religious organisation for assisting the Russian military. He noted SEC’s devotion and stated:
“You are doing the right thing... We are not only helping our Russian brothers, Russians, I have never hidden it. And my recent visit to the Russian military clearly attests to the support we extend for our brothers”.
The convent’s clergyman, Lemiashonak, responded to Lukashenko with sacred awe, saying:
“Today, one must be bold to say, ‘We are with Russia’.”