New cigarette manufacturer enters Belarusian market
The new manufacturer is Sentoni PRO. The company was established in December 2023. The legal entity database shows that Siarhei Karpovich and LLC Stroy-AnDi own the firm.
Siarhei Karpovich is employed by Tabak-Invest, a company owned by businessmen Pavel Topuzidis and Viktar Piatrovich. This is indicated on his social media profiles. Karpovich had previously co-owned other companies associated with the businessman.
Stroy-AnDi is owned by Andrei Piskarou.
It is an interesting coincidence that we recently mentioned Andrei in our "Superflux Couriers" investigation into Belarusian straw companies bringing luxury European cars into Russia to evade sanctions.
Piskarou was employed by the tycoon Yury Chyzh and subsequently collaborated with Siarhei Chyzh and Dzmitry Aleksin. Siarhei Chyzh is the son of Yury Chyzh, while Dzmitry Aleksin is the son of another influential businessman, Aliaksei Aleksin, who was sanctioned by the West as Lukashenka's 'moneybag'.
In addition to cars, Piskarou has a passion for motorcycles. On his Instagram account, there is a photo of him wearing the uniform of the HOG Minsk Chapter Belarus biker club, which brings together Harley-Davidson owners.
The biker club's gatherings are attended by Viktar Lukashenka, a well-known enthusiast of riding heavy motorcycles. We found a joint photo on Piskarou's social media featuring people from Aliaksandr Lukashenka's entourage, including his press secretary Natallia Eismant and hockey coach and businessman Dzmitry Baskau.
Belarus’ tobacco market is divided among several players, including two private companies and one state-owned company.
Tabak-Invest is one of the private cigarette manufacturers in Belarus. The company also owns shopping centres and a chain of Korona and Zamok stores. In December of last year, Topouzidis, Piatrovich, and Tabak-Invest were sanctioned by the United States due to their connections with Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Sentoni PRO may have been created to circumvent the restrictions.
Another private player in the Belarusian tobacco market is Aleksei Aleksin. He is primarily known as the owner of the Tabakerka chain of kiosks. His company Energo-Oil sells cigarettes produced by the Inter Tobacco factory located in Minsk province.
The state-owned factory Neman is the largest cigarette manufacturer in Belarus. However, their cigarettes are traded through Aleksin's Energo-Oil. Aleksin therefore has control of cigarette sales in two of the three tobacco factories. Moreover, Aleksin is trying to put pressure on Topouzidis to buy out his tobacco business, Nasha Niva reported.