The stench of kerosene
Authors
HIDDEN CHAMPION
What do the Belorusneft petrol stations, the Galereya shopping centre on Niamiha Street, the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Minsk, and the BelDruk pavilions have in common? They were all created by the same company: VDS.
According to the publication Belorusy i Rynok, it is the country’s “hidden champion”. Hidden, because the firm primarily operates off the radar. Champion, because it is the largest designer and manufacturer of awnings, totems, pavilions and other structures for petrol stations, retail outlets, and urban spaces across the former Soviet Union.
VDS’s primary area of expertise is petrol stations. The company can produce up to a thousand turnkey stations each year. For comparison, there are currently just over 800 petrol stations in Belarus.
VDS customers include oil companies from the US, UK, India and Georgia. It also has a subsidiary in Russia and a representative office in Kazakhstan. A VDS plant is also being prepared for opening in Astana, which will become the firm’s second production site. The first is located in Minsk, where the company also operates a design centre.
The VDS Group alone generated over $40 million in revenue and a net profit of almost $825,000 in 2024. The company’s books show that it has accumulated approximately $23 million in retained earnings. Up-to-date earnings data for other VDS assets is not available.
It is clear that VDS is a significant player in this field. In a conversation with a Buro journalist, an industry source actually described the company as one of the industry leaders:
“It’s a powerful company. We have visited their factory several times. This is a cutting-edge enterprise, and there are very few of this calibre in the country”.
But why does VDS prefer to stay out of the spotlight? This helps them to conceal the unattractive and contentious elements of their business. For example, doing business in the EU while also cooperating with sanctioned companies in Belarus and Russia. Supporting the war in Ukraine and the occupation regime in Donbas. Sponsoring the “Russian world” and collaborating with Lukashenko officials. VDS and its associates are involved in all of this – and more, Buro has found.
FAMILY BUSINESSES
VDS was established in 1994 in Minsk. According to the official website, “it started as a small advertising studio”. It was founded by three Belarusians: Aliaksandr Artsiukhovich, Piotr Rabitski and Aliaksei Shyshko. They are still VDS’s owners. Artsiukhovich plays the leading role: he owns the largest share of the company and has the status of “the mind behind”.
Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Veniamin (on the left) and Aliaksandr Artsiukhovich (on the right). Source: church.by
The three founders’ families are also involved in the business. The majority of wives, children, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law are employed within VDS structures. Among them, Aksana Kanavalava, Artsiukhovich’s wife, has the most significant influence.
She was born in Belarus but obtained Russian citizenship in 2009. The woman owns a business there: a VDS subsidiary and a trading house in Smolensk are both registered in her name.
In 2024, Russian VDS’s net income exceeded $120,000, while its trading house almost reached $1.3 million. The firm has capital of over $350,000, whereas the trading house has over $6 million. Among other things, VDS earned this money by cooperating with companies that have been sanctioned by the EU for supporting the governments of Lukashenko and Putin.
TOXIC CUSTOMERS
Belorusneft was subject to European sanctions in 2021.
“The company’s management dismissed workers who went on strike, took part in anti-regime protests or publicly supported those protests”, the EU explained its decision.
VDS was unfazed by the sanctions. Following their introduction, the firm announced on social media that it would continue to work with Belorusneft. Indeed, VDS built a new pavilion for Belorusneft in 2023 and equipped it with all the necessary facilities. The collaboration continues as of 2025. VDS announced this on its Telegram feed.
Rosneft, another VDS client, fell under EU sanctions in 2014 following the annexation of Crimea. The restrictions were tightened in 2022 due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, that didn’t stop VDS from doing business. In 2024, the company rebranded Rosneft’s petrol stations and oversaw the construction of three of them.
A little earlier, in 2018-2019, VDS designed and erected petrol stations for Gazpromneft. However, even back then, this cooperation was toxic. Gazpromneft has been subject to EU sanctions since 2014.
However, working with sanctioned companies does not prevent VDS from conducting business in Europe.
A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS
VDS Development Services SRL is based in Romania, an EU member state. Until 2018, it was owned by Belarusian VDS, after which Canadian citizen Michael Zhur took it over. It might seem that the connection between the Romanian and Belarusian companies had ended, leaving only a shared name. However, the Belarusian VDS website lists Michael Zhur as “regional director” for Romania.
Buro found his wife’s Facebook page. In one of her posts, the woman said that Michael is originally from Belarus, having first emigrated to Canada before moving on to Ukraine. He worked with his wife in the VDS division there. In 2014, after Russia invaded Donbas, the family moved to Romania.
Therefore, it is clear that the Romanian company VDS Development Services SRL is still controlled by VDS, which is based in Belarus, albeit indirectly.
The Romanian VDS subsidiary ended 2024 with a net profit of $240,000. This was down from almost $435,000 the previous year and $780,000 in 2022. The company built petrol stations and sold parts and components for them.
Judging by VDS’s social media presence, its main project in Romania is Rompetrol’s petrol stations. Rompetrol is one of the most powerful oil companies in Eastern Europe. VDS rebranded for Rompetrol in 2012 and redesigned its stations in 2019. The collaboration continued until at least 2022, resulting in the establishment of hundreds of new and refurbished petrol stations in Romania, Moldova, Georgia and Bulgaria.
There is also evidence that Rompetrol used VDS’s new designs in 2024. In February, a new petrol station designed by VDS in the company’s corporate style opened in Chisinau.
Until recently, the VDS website included the contact details of representatives in two additional EU countries: Estonia and Latvia.
Tankla Abi OÜ was a VDS partner in Estonia. The company’s services include the installation and maintenance of equipment at petrol stations. In 2017, VDS and Tankla Abi OÜ began a joint rebranding project for Alexela Oil, Estonia’s largest petrol station chain. The project was ongoing until at least 2022, with implementation continuing until 2023. VDS wrote about it on its Telegram channel, pointing out that the construction was financed by the EU Foundation, among others.
A journalist from Buro called Andrei Smirnov, the owner of Tankla Abi OÜ, to obtain details of his cooperation with VDS. He stated that his company was a distributor of VDS products in Estonia, but that joint operations ceased following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
“Our countries have stopped interacting. Following the termination of the relationship between the banks, mutual settlements were no longer a possibility”.
In Latvia, VDS collaborated with DLL Serviss. DLL Serviss is one of the country’s leading suppliers and service providers of fueling equipment. It has won several state tenders, including those related to the Latvian Armed Forces.
A Buro reporter contacted DLL Serviss by phone. The company’s manager said that work with VDS stopped after the war in Ukraine began:
“Bank transfers became impossible, freight transport was blocked, and various restrictions came into force, making any cooperation physically impossible”.
Despite losing partners, VDS is clearly not going to leave the European market. In May 2024, it attended the UNITI Expo in Stuttgart, Germany. There, the firm negotiated with existing customers and sought new ones. The firm reported it on the Telegram as follows:
“The VDS team held a series of meetings with our valued clients – we aligned plans with representatives from GULF and Compass, and discussed prospects for expansion in the South American market with potential partners. <...> We identified new markets with prospective clients and explored innovative technologies for fuel retail”.
A Buro journalist contacted Aliaksandr Artsiukhovich, the head of VDS, to ask how he manages to work with sanctioned companies while also doing business in Europe. Artsiukhovich refused to answer questions and hung up. Two other VDS owners did not respond to Buro’s calls. Online texts and a formal request sent to VDS’s corporate email account were also ignored.
Buro asked Mikhail Kiryliuk, a lawyer with the National Anti-Crisis Management, about the legality of conducting business in Europe while working with companies under EU sanctions:
"The EU has not issued a decision to freeze the assets of companies whose founders provide services to companies that are subject to sanctions outside the EU. Also, the EU has not agreed to freeze the assets of companies seeking services from contractors providing services to sanctioned companies outside the EU. Therefore, you cannot claim that VDS or European oil companies are breaking the law, nor that there is reason to prosecute them. The company’s reputation is the only thing that can be discussed here. ‘Did you know that your contractor, so-and-so, is making money from sponsors of the Russian war? Is that why you chose them?’ Such public discussions can play a role”.
Buro also discovered that, in addition to the sanctioned companies, VDS is willing to cooperate with Belarusian officials and clergy.
THE PATH OF FAITH
As part of its sustainable development policy, VDS is planting trees in Haradzishcha, a village that some archaeologists believe is the ancestral home of Minsk. This forms part of a project to establish an archaeological complex in Haradzishcha. The Minsk City Executive Committee, the Ministry of Culture and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus were the VDS partners in this endeavour. In addition to landscaping, excavation work is taking place in Haradzishcha.
In 2022, the site was visited by Raman Halouchanka, who was Prime Minister at the time, and Aliaksandr Turchyn, the current Prime Minister, who headed the Minsk Region Executive Committee at that time. Halouchanka even advocated granting the VDS project the status of “monument of national significance”. Even more officials were brought to Haradzishcha the following year: the head of the Ministry of Culture and his subordinates, a deputy from the Minsk District Council, and a chief from the Minsk District Executive Committee.
There’s a reason why VDS took an interest in the village. According to CyberPartisans, Aliaksandr Artsiukhovich, the company’s founder, lived in this settlement with his wife and children. The wife owns a 562-square-meter plot of land with a house on it.
The Artsiukhovich family also frequent the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Haradzishcha. According to the church’s website, it was built in 2010 with the help of unnamed “locals”. However, in one video, Artsiukhovich referred to the temple as “ours”, meaning the VDS company. The company takes a distinctive approach to religion.
There is a house church located right inside the VDS plant. Images of saints are displayed throughout the company and in the offices. A large Orthodox cross is displayed on the building’s façade. Employees regularly attend religious meetings, including those held at the plant site. For this purpose, VDS even has its own clergyman. He is also the rector of the Haradzishcha temple.
Judging by the posts on the forums, Aliaksandr Artsiukhovich is the one promoting Orthodoxy in VDS, and not everyone is happy about it. Below are a few testimonials from former employees:
“The owner is obsessed with religion. He makes you go to church and sends his children and employees to the seminary for education. He supervises each employee to ensure they wear a cross”.
“There is no social benefits package, no corporate events, and religion is imposed on employees”.
“They present themselves as orthodox, but they’re actually just bullying their employees. They fire people without warning or explanation”.
In 2024, Artsiukhovich sponsored the first Metropolitan Christmas party for the children of clergy and officials. Money and gold crosses were given to them as gifts. Four years earlier, the head of VDS received the Order of Saint Cyril of Turov, second grade, from Metropolitan Veniamin for “diligent labour for the glory of the Church”.
Veniamin and Artsiukhovich have known each other for a long time. They printed Orthodox books together. The priest led the publishing board of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, while the businessman served as a sponsor.
At its heart, the publishing board’s role is to distribute approved books through church-affiliated institutions and organisations. Mikalai Haurylau, an odious writer, is among those who received such support. First and foremost, he is known not for his works, but for his activities in Donbas.
He leads a group at St. Elisabeth Convent that collects aid for the Russian military, and he is also part of Aliaksei Talai’s group that smuggled Ukrainian children to Belarus.
However, officially, Haurylau works for VDS.
CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER
Mikalai Haurylau’s biography is shrouded in secrecy, which he himself created. During an interview, the man revealed that he had graduated from the Tallinn Maritime School and had gone on long voyages. We found no evidence of this in the CyberPartisans databases. However, we discovered that Haurylau had a criminal record.
He served his sentence for robbery and extortion in Orsha from 1994 to 2000. He was jailed in the same facility for restaurant robbery and disorderly conduct from 2007 to 2009. Following his release, Haurylau began to engage in entrepreneurial activity without registration or authorisation. For this reason, a case was opened, but Haurylau was not prosecuted.
According to 2024 data, Haurylau worked at VDS as “deputy general director for security”. Although he has been employed at the company since 2017, it seems that their collaboration began earlier.
In 2015, Mikalai Haurylau organised “Belarusian Vacations” for children from Donetsk. Then, accompanied by adults, children from the Blagovest choir school were brought to our country for a two-week holiday. VDS was one of the sponsors and covered the transportation costs. It is known that seven people remained in Belarus following their “holidays”.
The following year, Haurylau organised another trip of this kind. BelTA noted that it was arranged with the help of “many concerned people and organisations”.
However, Haurylau’s primary activity in Donbas is distinct. He and his associates travel to the occupied territories. According to him, they go there to deliver humanitarian aid to the locals, which the St. Elisabeth Convent collects. However, an earlier investigation by Buro revealed that Russian soldiers were also receiving aid.
Haurylau wrote on his own Telegram channel about his meetings with the military and his collaboration with the Wagner Group. In other posts, he described how he had helped the occupying forces maintain their positions during assaults and transfer Ukrainian children to Belarus.
Haurylau’s efforts did not go unnoticed. In 2023, the head of the “administration” of occupied Mariupol awarded the “VDS deputy director” for his support of Donbas.
To find out how Haurylau combines his official duties at VDS with his trips to Donbas, a journalist from Buro called him, but he did not answer.
Mykhail Kiryliuk, a lawyer at the National Anti-Crisis Directorate, explained to Buro whether the salary paid to Haurylau by VDS could be considered financing for his trips to Ukraine.
“The owners must have a direct or indirect interest in such trips if the firm is paying for them, and it can’t be off the hook. We can assume they believe the firm benefits more from these trips than the time and money the top manager spends on them. Perhaps this is the secret to securing orders from Belorusneft and Rosneft, which are not easy to obtain as a contractor”.
Neither Aliaksandr Artsiukhovich nor VDS has openly expressed their position on the war in Ukraine. However, the company’s Telegram channel was full of praise for Vladimir Putin’s interest in VDS projects in Russia. The last time this happened was in 2024, when Putin visited the Tatneft complex that VDS built. The firm regularly congratulated its Telegram followers on Russia Day and, in 2023, arranged for employees to meet Aleksandr Mikhailov, a People’s Artist of the RSFSR who actively supports Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
As part of the 30th anniversary celebrations in 2024, VDS organised a liturgy for the plant’s employees at St. Elisabeth Convent. This is the monastery that collects aid for the Russian military and sends it to Donbas with the help of Haurylau.
Buro sent a letter to VDS, asking them to comment on their collaboration with the St. Elisabeth Convent and on Mikalai Haurylau’s activities in Ukraine. The company ignored our request. The VDS founders also did not respond to calls or messages.
A PLACE OF POWER
Mikalai Haurylau, like his boss Aliaksandr Artsiukhovich, is an Orthodox believer. He attends the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Minsk. The church is relatively new, built in 2020 with Haurylau’s direct involvement.
The temple stands beside a memorial complex where more than 80,000 Soviet prisoners of war, tortured to death in Stalag 352, are buried. Haurylau chronicled their story in his book ...And God Shall Wipe Away All Tears. The publication had a specific purpose: to draw attention and, consequently, investment to the project of building a church next to the memorial complex.
The book came out in 2014 with backing from the Belarusian Orthodox Church’s publishing board. You should remember that at the time, it was headed by the current Metropolitan Veniamin, whilst Aliaksandr Artsiukhovich served as a sponsor. The PR campaign worked: construction of the church began in 2016. The Minsk-Novosti agency noted that Haurylau’s book proved one of the most compelling arguments in favour of the project.
In 2018, bells donated by the firm Neonafta were installed in the church. Neonafta’s owners are trusted associates of businessmen Aliaksei Aleksin and Mikalai Varabei, both under EU sanctions as Lukashenko’s “wallets”.
Aleksandr Lukashenko visited the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at Christmas 2021. In 2025, he paid it further attention: presenting its rector with an award “For Spiritual Revival”.
By then, the church, the museum opened alongside it, and the Stalag 352 memorial complex had become a new hub for military-"patriotic" propaganda and the “Russian world” in Belarus.
In March 2023, for instance, the site hosted a scientific-practical roundtable on “Genocide of the Soviet People: Historical and Legal Aspects”, organised by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
In December of the same year, on International Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Genocide, Metropolitan Veniamin held a memorial service at the church. Afterwards, a wreath-laying ceremony took place at the foot of the Masiukoushchyna memorial. Participants included Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakou, Lukashenko’s aide and Minsk inspector Aliaksandr Barsukou, and Andrei Buhrou, chairman of the Minsk City Council of Deputies.
In April and December 2024, services were held at the church: first in memory of concentration camp prisoners, then for victims of genocide. Representatives of the clergy, the Armed Forces, state public associations, officials, veterans, and deputies attended these.
In September 2024, Victor Lukashenko met with Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev in Minsk. Degtyarev then went to Stalag 352 and laid flowers at the monument. The Russian delegation was also given a tour of the memorial complex grounds. This choice was no accident, Khrystsiyanskaya Viziya told Buro. According to the initiative, Victor Lukashenko and his family are parishioners of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
BEHIND THE ATTRACTIVE FAÇADE
VDS presents itself as a modern, progressive company. It publicly champions gender equality, ecosystem preservation and waste separation. Its internal code identifies human rights as a core value and states that “neither the name nor the assets of VDS should be used to advance the interests of any political parties or candidates”. Yet look more closely, and it becomes clear this is merely an attractive façade concealing support for dictatorial regimes and those enabling war.
VDS takes pride in working with companies that enrich the Lukashenko and Putin regimes; its founder gives gifts to officials’ children, whilst its security director general helps Russian soldiers in Ukraine and transfers children from occupied territories. None of this prevents VDS from operating in Europe, participating in international exhibitions, or remaining in good standing amongst globally renowned oil companies.
Now that VDS’s true nature has been exposed, its European partners face an unavoidable question: are they prepared to continue working with such a contractor?
VDS itself will eventually have to make a choice. The longer it attempts to sit on two stools, the greater the likelihood that Europe will cease to believe in its “progressive values”, whilst Belarus and Russia will doubt its loyalty.