Alexander Zaytsev
Current assets: Bremino Group (warehousing and storage), Ruzekspeditsiya (transportation services), Vlate Logistik (warehousing and storage), Alis Ma (warehousing and storage), Sohra (wholesale supply of auto parts and components), Stiskho (wholesale trade in meat and meat products), Stiskho Pinskoye (dairy cattle farming), Stiskho Orsha (production of meat and poultry products), Unionway (cargo handling), Ardita (confectionery production), Cyber Genesis (computer programming), Lukomlsky Konservnyi Zavod (meat processing and canning), Solntsestoyanie (event planning), Torgovyi Dom Eksporttorg (wholesale trade), Glavtorgpred (wholesale agency services), Luxury Motors (retail of passenger and commercial vehicles), Khokkeynyi Klub Bastion (sports), Belgrit-Kvarts (mineral raw materials production), Belgrit OMU (peat extraction), Temo (glassware manufacturing), ZapadTransGranitsa (freight handling), Rukh Development/Rukh Sport Klub (advertising), Sohra Overseas FZE (UAE), Sohra Mining DMCC (UAE).
Historical assets: SM Industrial Engineering (architecture), Kairos Sport (clothing retail), ZSPZ Arsenal (non-food retail), BSVT – Novye Tekhnologii/Kidma Tech (research and development), Veles-Meat (production of meat and poultry products), Sheinker Group (wholesale agency services), Kalita Spets/Kosmicheskoe Agentstvo Belkosmos /Trendhall (clothing retail), EuroPharmIntegratsiya and European Green Assets (pharmaceutical trade), Irridio (industrial ventilation manufacturing), Belgrit-Polesye (extraction of agrochemical raw materials), Rukh Sport Management (sports club operations).
Connections: Viktor Lukashenko (patron, partner), Aliaksei Aleksin (business partner), Mikalai Varabei (business partner), Raman Zaitsau (son, business partner), Vitalie Buzdugan (business partner), Igor Rachkovskiy (business partner), Yana Levaneuskaya (manager), Ihar Lachouk (spiritual mentor, friend, manager), Vasili Dzemiantsei (manager), Andrei Chyrko (manager), Yauheni Krakhotsin (former manager).
Privileges: Thanks to his close ties with Viktor Lukashenko, Alexander Zaytsev became one of Belarus's most influential businessmen. In the late 1990s, he held a senior position in the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus. From 2003 to 2007, he worked in the Council of Ministers. From 2007 to 2012, he served as an assistant to Viktor Lukashenko in the State Secretariat of the Security Council. Zaytsev publicly denies having worked for Viktor Lukashenko.
After building a network of connections and securing his patron's support, Zaytsev entered the state-controlled business sector. In 2013, he founded Bremino Group with Mikalai Varabei. In 2014, Aliaksei Aleksin also joined the group of co-owners. According to investigative journalists, the company later received exclusive tax and customs benefits and became one of the country's main logistics hubs for smuggling. Affiliated companies also gained a monopoly on transit profits after the government allowed them to build two transport and logistics centres with customs clearance rights at the Bruzgi and Berastavitsa border crossings between Belarus and the EU.
In 2014, Alexander Zaytsev established the Sohra group, with offices in Minsk and Dubai, to export heavy machinery, including products from MAZ, MTZ, and BelAZ. Zaytsev used his informal status and connections in the Middle East to establish contacts with local elites. In 2017, Sohra Overseas acquired a stake in BSVT – Novye Tekhnologii. The Dubai office then became a hub for supplying machinery, construction products, and agricultural products to Asia and Africa. Sohra Mining was established in 2018 following Aleksandr Lukashenko's visit to Sudan.
Alexander Zaytsev refocused his business on the domestic market due to sanctions and difficulties with foreign trade projects. Between 2020 and 2022, his affiliated companies, Sohra and Stiskho, began buying up undervalued agricultural assets. Zaytsev expanded the raw material base by adding the Ardita confectionery factory, which started producing Zaleepie (choco pie) biscuits, and the Lukomlsky Konservnyi Zavod, which processes fish products.
At the same time, Zaytsev is cultivating his image as a Catholic patron of the arts. A key figure in this is his spiritual mentor and manager, Father Ihar Lachouk, through whom, according to investigations, hundreds of thousands of dollars are channeled to Catholic initiatives. However, Zaytsev's status as a philanthropist and his title of Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great did not help him challenge the EU sanctions in court.
To manage his assets and circumvent sanctions, Zaytsev relies on a small circle of trusted associates, including former senior security officials. He is also developing key areas of his business in partnership with his son, Raman Zaitsau.
Restrictions: Alexander Zaytsev has been subject to EU personal sanctions since 2021 and U.S. sanctions since 2022. His main assets have also been restricted. These include the Bremino Group, the Dubai-based holding group Sohra, and the defense company BSVT – Novye Tekhnologii (Kidma Tech). Ruzekspeditsia and Vlate Logistik have been subject to EU and U.S. sanctions since 2024.
