Shell company: Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s businesses are cashing in on the war in Ukraine — and he’s trying to hide it

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In April 2023, Russia’s then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu toured the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant. His guide was Alexander Krasovitsky, the plant's director.

Krasovitsky showed Shoigu the assembly lines and production workshops for APCs and Tigr armored vehicles. The Arzamas plant is part of the Military-Industrial Company (MIC; «Военно-промышленная компания», «ВПК»), which manufactures APCs.

The MIC, now one of the Russian Defense Ministry’s key contractors, was founded by Oleg Deripaska, and the billionaire’s ties to former Defense Minister Shoigu appear to extend beyond just business. Data obtained by The Insider has revealed that Shoigu’s former mistress, Elena Shebunova, along with his three illegitimate children — Danila, Darya, and Stepan — used Deripaska’s private jet for flights to Greece, the UAE, Turkey, and Italy.

Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of Western sanctions, it became increasingly inconvenient for Deripaska to act as the official owner of a defense manufacturer. He claimed to have exited the Military-Industrial Company’s share capital in 2019. However, an investigation by The Insider casts serious doubt on that claim, as top positions across multiple companies involved in the production of armored vehicles are still held by managers personally linked to Deripaska.

Alexander Krasovitsky, who led Shoigu’s factory tour, in the past used a corporate email hosted on the domain of aluminium giant Rusal — which was founded by Deripaska and remains one of his key assets. Krasovitsky has worked for Deripaska since at least the early 2000s, when the former served as director of production systems development at the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant.

Two years ago, Krasovitsky was replaced as CEO of the Military-Industrial Company by Sergey Vasyutin, who also has ties to Deripaska. As The Insider found, Vasyutin worked at RUSAL Krasnoyarsk as a department head in 2014.

Alongside the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant and the Military-Industrial Company, other enterprises belonging to the same corporate group include:

• Military Engineering Center LLC (ООО «Военно-инженерный центр») — Responsible for the development and modernization of APCs, IFVs, and armored vehicles for the Defense Ministry, Interior Ministry, FSB, FSO, and other security agencies. Its revenue has increased 2.6-fold since the start of the full-scale invasion.
  
  
• Bryansk Arsenal PJSC (ПАО «Брянский арсенал») — Produces motor graders.
  
  
• Zavod Korpusov JSC (АО «Завод Корпусов») — Manufactures armored hulls for various Russian infantry fighting vehicles (BTR-80, BTR-80A, BTR-80K, BTR-90, BTR-82A) and Tigr armored vehicles, along with their modifications. In 2024, the company reported 5.6 billion rubles (approx. $71.2 million) in revenue — nearly double its 2022 figure.

Most companies in the group conceal their beneficial owners. However, as The Insider noted, a 2025 financial filing by Bryansk Arsenal lists its ultimate owners as Svetlana Tsareva and Georgy Mazurkovsky.

Both Tsareva and Mazurkovsky appear to be nominal asset holders. Before “acquiring” Deripaska’s defense holdings, Georgy Mazurkovsky worked in a barbershop, earning less than 20,000 rubles (approx. $250) a month, while Svetlana Tsareva was employed at a hospital in Dedovsk, near Moscow, with a monthly salary of 40,000 rubles (just over $500). The supposed “sale” of the businesses by Deripaska is clearly a sham.

Tsareva and Mazurkovsky became owners through Orlan Company JSC (АО «Орлан компани»), which reported 609 million rubles in income from affiliated entities in 2022 and 476 million in 2023 ($7.79 million and $6.06 million respectively based on the current exchange rate).

Further evidence links these companies back to Deripaska. The Military-Industrial Company is registered at Rochdelskaya Street 15, building 8 in Moscow — the address of the Trekhgornaya Manufactory, which is also associated with Deripaska. The phone number of Berkut JSC (АО «Беркут»), a subsidiary of Orlan Company, matches that of Aquamarin LLC (ООО «Аквамарин») — which was founded by Ingosstrakh, an insurance company long considered to be within Deripaska’s sphere of influence, though its shareholder structure has not been publicly disclosed in recent years. The former CEO of Berkut JSC (until April 2024), Dmitry Miklushonok, previously worked at Basic Element (Basel) — the core holding company for many of Deripaska’s business interests.

Arbitration court records show that, in addition to the Russian Defense Ministry, companies linked to Deripaska also work with several major defense contractors, including: NPO Electromashina (owned by state defense corporation Rostec), NPO Strela (a subsidiary of state-owned arms manufacturer Almaz-Antey), Radiozavod JSC (Rostec), VTSKB Polyus JSC (Rostec), Sozvezdie Concern, and Avtomatika Concern JSC.

With the full-scale invasion of Ukraine underway, Russia began state trials of new wheeled combat vehicles developed by companies owned by Oleg Deripaska, built on the “Boomerang” («Бумеранг») platform. Since 2022, Spartak armored vehicles, also developed by firms under Deripaska’s control, have been actively used in combat.

Although Oleg Deripaska has been designated on multiple Western sanctions lists, his companies continue to earn revenue by exporting goods to Europe. He is able to travel internationally using a diplomatic passport issued by the Russian state. One of his closest allies in Russian politics is said to be longtime Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Deripaska is also a major funder of political operations aimed at discrediting the Russian opposition.

Deripaska began his business career in the 1990s with support from criminally-connected businessman Mikhail Cherny — aka “Misha-Krisha”, literally “Misha the Roof” — and was under the protection of the Izmaylovskaya organized crime group alongside other future billionaires such as Iskandar Makhmudov and Andrey Bokarev. Deripaska later secured political protection as well: in 2000, he married the daughter of Valentin Yumashev, son-in-law of former President Boris Yeltsin and later an advisor to Vladimir Putin.