A courtly friend

Liudmila Niaronskaya is arguably the most successful and talked-about businesswoman in Belarus. During her career, she built two thriving empires: one in fuel and transportation, and one in fishing. However, as Buro discovered, Niaronskaya possesses not only a professional instinct but also a unique talent for identifying valuable connections and leveraging them for personal gain.

 

Buro has obtained exclusive details about Liudmila Niaronskaya’s life. We will tell you where she lives, who she spends her holidays with abroad and the true nature of her relationship with Viсtor Lukashenko’s clan. We will also reveal how her friendship with the family of Aleksandr Lukashenko’s eldest son evolved into a mutually beneficial business partnership.

 

 

NEW NOBILITY

The suburbs of Minsk located along the railway line toward Maladzechna are considered among the city’s most prestigious and environmentally pristine areas, with rapid residential development underway. Ratamka and Zaslauje are sought-after areas along the highway, known for their upscale real estate and popularity among affluent residents seeking a countryside lifestyle.

 

However, the real architectural gem of this area may well be this 1,050 m² mansion, built in a modern classic style, in Prudzishcha village, just 20 km from the Minsk Ring Road.

 

 

The mansion is also attached to three plots totalling almost 0.63 hectares. Their combined minimum cadastral value is now almost $52,000.

 

In addition, there is a further 108-square-metre dwelling on the estate, which is probably used as a guest house or servants’ quarters.

 

Кроме того, на территории усадьбы имеется еще один жилой дом в 108 «квадратов» – вероятно, гостевой домик или дом для прислуги.

 

On a hot day, the owners of this grand property can enjoy a picnic on the lawn near an artificial pond or take a stroll through a picturesque private park.

 

 

 

The estate’s sheer size is so impressive that it’s visible from space.

 

Source: earth.google.com

 

So, who lives in this luxurious mansion? Who strides down the marble staircase each morning, ready to earn their millions?

 

 

We found the answers to these questions in one of the Game of Thrones-inspired rooms at the estate.

 

 

There is a woven tapestry depicting a family tree on the wall. The inscription on it is clearly visible: “The Tree of the Niaronski Family”.

 

 

PETRODOLLARS

The wedding of Liudmila and Hleb Niaronski took place in October 2012. Neither of them was entering their first marriage. By that time, Hleb Niaronski had already been raising a son, Stsiapan, from a previous marriage, while Liudmila Niaronskaya had two daughters, Hanna and Tatsiana, from her earlier marriages. In 2013, they had a son together, Stanislau.

 

As the family steadily grew, the Niaronskis began thinking about creating a family home of their own. In 2014, the couple purchased two plots of land in Prudzishcha, totalling almost 0.44 hectares. In July 2015, they purchased a third plot. The above-mentioned mansion, spanning almost 1,050 m², was built in Prudzishcha as early as March 2017. Hleb Niaronski was the registered owner of all this real estate.

 

But how did the Niaronski family earn the money to build this palace?

 

Hleb Niaronski began his career in the 1990s at Beltransfer, a firm that wholesales perfumes and cosmetics. According to data provided by CyberPartisans, he also worked in the Lukashenko Property Management Directorate’s Main Procurement Department from the late 90s and in the noughties.

 

Hleb Niaronski became co-owner of Alphaunion in October 2007. The company’s main business is the wholesale of automotive parts, assemblies, and accessories. He left the business in 2018.

 

Hleb Niaronski is now entirely focused on the logistics of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

In 2015, he registered Neftetranslogistika, a company that transports LPG by tanker truck. And it’s no coincidence. After all, it was in the fuel and energy sector that his wife, Liudmila Niaronskaya, amassed her fortune.

 

Her business biography in Belarus dates back to about 2003. According to data provided by CyberPartisans, she was a deputy director at Syryevye Resursy at the time, a firm that was then co-owned by her current key business partner in the industry, Artur Zubaryk. During the early 2000s, he was involved in oil production in Russia.

 

In 2005, Niaronskaya and Zubaryk acquired a stake in Syryevye Resursy-Bel, a company specialising in the production and sale of LPG. They then used this company as a foundation for building their own fuel and transportation empire.

 

Liudmila Niaronskaya (second from left) and Artur Zubaryk (second from right), 2012. Source: Artur Zubaryk’s profile on Odnoklassniki

 

The Belarusian group of companies owned by Liudmila Niaronskaya and Artur Zubaryk, which specialises in the processing and transportation of LPG, has included the following companies at different times: TransExpedition, Gruzovaya Sluzhba, WestTransExpedition, Ingrida Nafta, GazEnergyHim and Gruzovaya Sluzhba Zapad.

 

Some of these companies got rich thanks to the “Union Offshore” scheme, which involved re-exporting Russian LPG to Ukraine and Poland.

 

In early 2017, Ukraine imposed sanctions on Russian LPG suppliers in response to the Kremlin’s military aggression in the Donbas Region. Following the loss of a share of the Ukrainian market, those involved began selling their goods indirectly, via Belarus.

 

The re-export scheme turned out to be obscenely simple. Russia exported LPG to Belarus without applying customs duties, thereby reducing its cost price. In Belarus, Russian LPG was transferred to local storage facilities, blended into fuel mixtures, and resold to Ukraine and Poland at a markup as supposedly Belarusian products.

 

Exports were reported to have reached over $300 million in the 2017 – 2018 period.

 

At the time, two firms controlled by Niaronskaya and Zubaryk – TransExpedition and GazEnergyHim – were named among the largest re-exporters of Russian LPG.

 

A Buro journalist phoned Artur Zubaryk to ask how his fuel and transportation business was doing. Zubaryk said that their holding currently has no operational activity due to sanctions and the war in Ukraine, and that the assets are unprofitable. The businessman also revealed that, once the war is over, they will be able to resume operations. Zubaryk refused to answer any questions regarding Liudmila Niaronskaya.

 

But how did Artur Zubaryk and Liudmila Niaronskaya become beneficiaries of the re-export scheme in 2017 – 2018? Buro found that the businesspeople may have benefited from Liudmila Niaronskaya’s ties to Victor Lukashenko, the eldest son of Belarus’s head of state.

 

 

A VOLUNTEER IS WORTH TWENTY PRESSED MEN

On August 12, 2022, the elite Niaronski mansion in Prudzishcha was abuzz with activity from early morning as preparations were made for the wedding of their daughter, Hanna. The chosen partner of Niaronskaya’s daughter was event host Yahor Paulenka.

 

Following the pre-wedding gathering and photo session, the couple and their families went to the Islach Park country complex for the off-site registration and banquet. To keep the guests entertained between toasts, the newlyweds had prepared plenty of outdoor activities: dancing to live music from a cover band, table football, Jenga, a field service bar in a retro car, and even a photo booth.

 

The photo report revealed two familiar guests: Viktoria Lukashenko and her husband, Dzmitry Dziatlau.

 

 

The Dziatlaus’ presence at the Niaronski family celebration wasn’t a coincidence. Buro discovered that Viktoria Lukashenko and Hanna Yarash – the eldest daughter of Liudmila Niaronskaya – are bosom friends.

 

The earliest photo we found of the women together dates back to June 2014.

 

Hanna Yarash (on the left) and Viktoria Lukashenko (on the right). Source: Hanna Yarash’s Instagram account

 

The friendship between Lukashenko’s and Niaronski’s heiresses probably started in school. Both girls graduated from the prestigious Minsk Gymnasium No. 16, and they were apparently classmates.

 

June 2016. Viktoria Lukashenko (second from left, wearing a red dress) and Hanna Yarash (fourth from right, also in a red dress) at a graduation party. Source: Hanna Yarash’s Instagram account

 

After graduating from high school, Viktoria Lukashenko decided to study the fundamentals of global economics at the Faculty of International Relations at the Belarusian State University (BSU). Meanwhile, Hanna Yarash pursued electrical and electronic engineering at the prestigious University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.

 

Even though they were apart, the two friends stayed in close touch, including on a family level. We found a curious video on Hanna Yarash’s Instagram account in which Viktoria Lukashenko sends birthday greetings to Liudmila Niaronskaya and affectionately calls her “Auntie Liuda”.

 

We also found out that “Auntie Liuda” and her daughters regularly took foreign vacations with Lukashenko’s family.

 

Hanna Yarash and Viktoria Lukashenko “conquered Rome” together in July 2016.

 

July 2016. Viktoria Lukashenko and Hanna Yarash in Rome. Source: Hanna Yarash’s Instagram account

 

Thanks to data provided by CyberPartisans, we learned that the young women were in Italy with Hanna’s mother, Liudmila Niaronskaya; Viktoria’s mother, Lilia Lukashenko; and Viktoria’s brother, Aleksandr Lukashenko Jr. The group returned to Minsk on July 25, 2016.

 

On July 5, 2019, Hanna and Viktoria went on another trip together – this time to Dublin, Ireland.

 

July 2019. Hanna Yarash and Viktoria Lukashenko in Dublin, Ireland. Source: Hanna Yarash’s Instagram account

 

A photo posted on Hanna’s Instagram account shows the young women spending time with their families again. Hanna Yarash was travelling with her mother and her sister, Tatsiana.

 

July 2019. Liudmila Niaronskaya and her daughters in Dublin, Ireland. From left to right: Liudmila Niaronskaya, Tatsiana Zaitsava and Hanna Yarash

 

Viktoria Lukashenko arrived in Dublin with her brother Aleksandr Lukashenko Jr. and her cousin Uladzislau Harusau, the youngest son of Lilia Lukashenko’s sister, Ina Harusava.

 

July 2019. First photo. Bottom row, left to right: Viktoria Lukashenko, Tatsiana Zaitsava, Hanna Yarash. Top row, left to right: Uladzislau Harusau, Aleksandr Lukashenko Jr. Second photo. Left to right: Tatsiana Zaitsava, Hanna Yarash, Aleksandr Lukashenko Jr., Viktoria Lukashenko. Source: Hanna Yarash’s Instagram account

 

CyberPartisans’ data indicates that Lilia was also in Dublin. The Niaronskis and the Lukashenkos arrived in Minsk together on July 8, 2019.

 

In total, we identified four trips made by Liudmila Niaronskaya together with members of the Lukashenko family – in July 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019. It appears to have become something of a regular tradition.

 

The Niaronskis share not only holidays but also family celebrations with the Lukashenko family.

 

For instance, Lilia Lukashenko was invited to celebrate Stanislau’s eighth birthday in 2021. Stanislau is the youngest son of the Niaronski family.

 

 

Buro spotted the Dziatlau couple among the guests at the wedding of Hleb Niaronski’s son from his first marriage, Stsiapan, which took place in 2023. Here they are standing with Liudmila Niaronskaya’s mother, Klaudzia Minakova.

 

 

The young woman standing behind her in the photo is Tatsiana Zaitsava, the second daughter of Liudmila Niaronskaya. She also seems to be friends with members of Lukashenko’s family. In April 2025, she attended a Dynamo Minsk hockey game against the Chelyabinsk Tractor team. Victor Lukashenko and his daughter, Valeria Lukashenko, can be seen next to her on the grandstand.

 

Top row, from left to right: Valeria Lukashenko and Tatsiana Zaitsava. Bottom row, from left to right: Darya Domracheva and Ole Einar Bjørndalen. Source: Instagram account @sport5.by

 

To get the lowdown on the relationship between the two families, Buro contacted Liudmila Niaronskaya by phone. The businesswoman said she was busy and then hung up.

 

 

THE FISHERIES

Liudmila Niaronskaya converted close, friendly relations between the two families into another successful business under Lukashenko’s patronage.

 

Over the past year and a half, we have released a dozen investigations into how the “fish queen,” Niaronskaya, built her business empire under the Lukashenko clan’s sponsorship. In this publication, we will summarise the major milestones in the creation of this transnational fishing empire and how they intersect with personal benefits for Niaronskaya and her lobbyists to provide our readers with a complete overview.

 

In March 2022, Liudmila Niaronskaya registered her first company, Morskie Promysly. And almost immediately, she appointed Viktoria Lukashenko’s newly married husband, Dzmitry Dziatlau, to the position of deputy director there.

 

In April 2022, Niaronskaya established another of her notable enterprises in Russia: Soyuznye Rybnye Promysly. Her business partner is associated with a company owned by the Rotenberg brothers, who are friends of Vladimir Putin. The firm received fishing quotas in the Far East under an agreement between the Russian and Belarusian authorities, bypassing the established procedure and receiving them at no cost. Victor Lukashenko’s son-in-law was appointed to the board of directors and received an annual bonus. For instance, Soyuznye Rybnye Promysly made a lump sum payment of around $30,000 to Dziatlau at the end of 2025.

 

In October 2022, Niaronskaya founded another company called Morskie Sezony. Dziatlau also got a position there.

 

In addition to securing prestigious workplaces for Viktoria Lukashenko’s husband, Liudmila Niaronskaya also ensured a substantial salary for the recent graduate: by mid-2023, Dziatlau was earning more than 10,000 Belarusian rubles per month combined from two of Niaronskaya’s Belarusian companies. A total sum of 161,500 Belarusian rubles was transferred to Dzmitry Dziatlau for the years 2022 and 2023, before the deduction of income tax and contributions to the Social Security Fund. This equates to 53,000 euros.

 

Last year, Dzmitry Dziatlau’s powers increased considerably when he became the managing director of Niaronskaya’s new company, Morskaya Manufaktura. The firm is involved in the restaurant business, developing fish stores and cafés under the Rybnyi Dom Morskie Sezony brand.

 

However, Buro discovered that Dzmitry Dziatlau is just one of many members of Lukashenko’s clan who profit from Niaronskaya’s fishing empire.

 

In June 2025, Liudmila Niaronskaya and Aleksandr Lukashenko Jr., the son of Victor and Lilia Lukashenko, registered the firm Sezon Upakovki as a joint business. We recently reported that Sezon Upakovki plans to construct a production and warehouse facility to manufacture corrugated cardboard containers. The future enterprise will be built using a state loan in the Bremino-Orsha Special Economic Zone (also known as Orsha Offshore), for which Aleksandr Lukashenko has granted extensive benefits and preferences through a personal decree.

 

Moreover, Aliaksandr Harusau, the husband of Lilia Lukashenko’s sister, is also employed in Niaronskaya’s structures. He has been listed as deputy director for safety with Morskie Sezony since 2024. He possesses the necessary qualifications for the position, having spent many years working in the Mahiliou Regional department of the State Security Committee before being promoted to deputy head of the Minsk Region KGB Directorate. He receives a decent salary for his services at Morskie Sezony – about 7,500 Belarusian rubles per month (before income tax and Social Security Fund deductions).

 

As for Niaronskaya herself, she exploited her friendship with the Victor Lukashenko family to gain protection and influence with the authorities, receiving large soft loans for factory construction and valuable production areas of bankrupt state enterprises at a fraction of their value.

 

From 2026 onwards, the Lukashenko clan began to jealously guard Liudmila Niaronskaya’s business against Buro’s scrutiny and public attention. As we previously reported, the Belarusian Ministry of Justice restricted access to the ownership structure of almost all of Niaronskaya-Lukashenko’s fish assets in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs. While preparing this investigation, we found that the Ministry of Justice also classified Niaronskaya’s and Zubaryk’s firms, including Syryevye Resursy-Bel, GazEnergyHim, Gruzovaya Sluzhba, Gruzovaya Sluzhba Zapad and TransExpedition, the latter of which was reorganised two years ago.

 

In addition, the Belarusian Council of Ministers conducted a comprehensive review and cleanup of the accounting records of companies linked to Niaronskaya’s business portfolio. The financial records of the companies Morskie Sezony, Morskie Promysly, Morskaya Manufaktura, Morskaya Gavan, Belmare Group, Sezon Upakovki, and WestTransExpedition were classified as a “state tax secret.”

 

Clearly, the Lukashenko family does not appreciate the attention from the independent press. That’s why the full might of the state apparatus is devoted to covering up its actions: cleaning up the State Business Register and classifying financial statements so that independent media outlets do not report on Lukashenko’s clan’s enrichment schemes, and so that the Belarusian public does not revolt again upon learning how their taxes are actually being spent.