Mikalai Varabei

Current assets: Neftebitumnyi Zavod (production of bitumen and bituminous materials); InterService, LandResource (wholesale coal trade); Novaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya; Mineral Goods Trade (petroleum product trade); Logistic Energy; BelKazTrans; Bremino Group; Morskoy Terminal Portarktik (logistics); Krasny Bor tourist complex; an estate in the Verkhniadzvinsk District; and apartments and chalets in Austria.

Historical assets: Absolutbank (banking).

Connections: Tamara Varabei (wife), Katsiaryna Smushkovich (daughter), Aliaksei Aleksin (partner), Alexander Zaytsev (partner), Iryna Pankratava (manager), Alesia Berazhnaya (manager), Viachaslau Atrakhimovich (manager), Lidziya Ushakova (manager), Siarhei Sakovich (manager), Neli Maliarava (manager), Siarhei Antsen (manager), Hanna Pantsarnaya (manager), Andrei Shyshko (manager), Alexander Shakutin (former partner).

Privileges: Mikalai Varabei has been involved in the oil and petroleum products market for over 25 years. The authorities regulate access to this sector of the Belarusian economy at the highest level. Varabei became one of the few private entrepreneurs granted the opportunity to export petroleum products from Belarusian refineries on a footing equal to the state. U.S. authorities refer to him as Aleksandr Lukashenko’s “energy wallet”. Western sanctions targeted the businessman and Novaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya, which he helped establish, because of his close ties to the authorities.

The businessman then opened a new company, Logistic Energy. Logistic Energy trades in Belarusian gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, and gas oil through Russian ports. This private company was granted permission to build a terminal to transship Belarusian cargo at the Port of Murmansk. During meetings with their Russian counterparts, Belarusian officials had long lobbied for this project.

Mikalai Varabei is the co-owner of Bremino Group, which manages a special economic zone near Orsha. Lukashenko issued a separate decree establishing and regulating the SEZ. Because of its numerous tax breaks, it is referred to as the “Orsha Offshore.” A few months before its creation, Varabei gave Lukashenko’s Security Service a new Tesla Model S.

Restrictions: Mikalai Varabei has been under EU sanctions since December 2020 and under U.S. sanctions since August 2021. His assets are also on the blacklist: Interservice, BelKazTrans, Novaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya, Neftebitumnyi Zavod, Bremino Group, and others. The businessman challenged the sanctions in court, but his lawsuit was dismissed.