In 2020, businessman Alexander Shakutin was sanctioned by the EU for supporting Alexander Lukashenko.

After that, the activities of his companies in the European Union had to be terminated.

However, the Belarusian Investigative Center found out that Shakutin has a company in Germany, which continues to function and generate income.

The SV MASCHINEN company supplies agricultural machinery to Eastern Europe.

Shakutin secretly manages this company through a Lithuanian company, whose activities are prohibited in Lithuania, and whose assets are frozen.

On the eve of the introduction of sanctions against Shakutin in 2020, his company was 70% owned by the Lithuanian firm EM SYSTEM.

This firm has come under national sanctions in Lithuania, and its assets are frozen there.

And in Germany, the connection of the subsidiary company EM SYSTEM with Shakutin was not traced, and it escaped restrictions.

Its representative office in Minsk, which operates with a profit of a million dollars, continues to work.

Journalists have sent a request to Germany, they are waiting for a response.

Investigative journalists also learned that Shakutin's wife and his son from a previous marriage are co-owners of the Beltamozhvilia company, which re-exports flowers to Russia.

Lukashenko personally granted benefits to businesses in re-export.

The flower business of the Shakutins became extremely profitable.

The revenue of "Beltamozhvilia" during the two years of the leadership of the Shakutins amounted to $264 million.

Shakutin's wife, son and father-in-law were supposed to pay 20% of this amount to the state budget as the import tax, but Lukashenko personally exempted them from this by his decree.



You can read the full text of the investigation by the BRC under the auspices of JournalismFund HERE.

  • Alexander Shakutin is

    a Belarusian businessman, a member of the Council of the Republic of the 4th and 5th convocations, the head of the Amkador holding, which includes dozens of enterprises in Belarus and Russia.

    In 2020, Shakutin was among the invited guests at the "secret inauguration", went with Lukashenka to his mother-in-law to pick potatoes, flew with him to the Emirates.

    From 2020, under EU sanctions, which provide for a ban on entry into the European Union and freezing of assets.

    When justifying the introduction of sanctions, it was noted that Shakutin benefits from the support of the Lukashenka regime as a result of the privatization of state property, and is also a member of the "Belaya Rus" organization, which supports Lukashenka.

  • BRC (Belarusian Investigative Center)

    is a team of Belarusian investigative journalists, a member of the international investigative associations OCCRP and GIJN.

    BRC investigates, among other things, corruption in the Belarusian authorities.

    For example, about "Sheiman's gold" in Zimbabwe, as part of the Pandora Papers project.