The company of the family of Lviv businessman-fugitive Bobyr financed the construction of Lukashenko’s residence - investigation

The company of the family of Lviv businessman-fugitive Bobyr financed the construction of Lukashenko’s residence - investigation

Ukrainian and Belarusian investigative journalists have discovered that a Cypriot company, owned by the mother of businessman Vitaliy Bobyr, who is wanted by authorities, provided loans in 2024 to a Russian firm constructing the suburban resort complex "Krasnaya Polyana" for the self-proclaimed leader of Belarus, Oleksandr Lukashenko.

This was reported in an investigation by "Slidstvo.Info" and BRC

According to the investigation, the Cypriot company "Rostumel Holding Limited" provided a $1.5 million loan in 2024 to the Russian firm "Complex-Invest," which is behind the construction of the residence.

According to the journalists, one of its co-founders is Alexander Romanovsky, a former employee of Lukashenko’s Security Service. The former director of "Complex-Invest" stated that the company is funded exclusively through borrowed funds.

The investigators established that most of the creditors are firms connected to Lukashenko’s inner circle. Among them is "Rostumel Holding Limited," owned by 72-year-old Lviv resident Iryna Bobyr.

Direct quote: "She is the mother of Vitaliy Bobyr, a businessman who has been wanted by the Security Service of Ukraine since May 2023. According to the special service, Bobyr supplied ’Rolls-Royces’ and ’Maybachs’ to Belarus and Russia in violation of sanctions. Additionally, Vitaliy Bobyr is involved in the transshipment of sanctioned Belarusian mineral fertilizers at the port of Saint Petersburg. This was covered in an investigation by the ’Schemes’ project."

As reported, in March 2023, as part of a criminal proceeding, a court in Kyiv seized items found during searches of Vitaliy Bobyr’s property: documents, equipment, and seals of two dozen companies from Ukraine, one from Belarus, and two Cypriot ones. One of them is the same "Rostumel Holding Limited."

"In correspondence found on one of the confiscated phones, Bobyr claimed that his godfather is a high-ranking Belarusian official, ’the second person in Belarus.’ It is highly likely that he was referring to Viktor Sheiman, one of Lukashenko’s closest associates and former head of the Presidential Administration of Belarus," the investigation states.

In response to questions from "Slidstvo.Info" journalists about the funding of the "Krasnaya Polyana" complex construction, Vitaliy Bobyr said: "I don’t understand what you’re talking about at all. My mother is not the owner of any company."

It is noted that the investigators were unable to speak with Iryna Bobyr.

According to the journalists, who obtained drone footage of the residence construction and related documentation, the complex consists of a main building (3,000 square meters), three cottages (700 square meters each, with a pool and sauna in each), buildings for security and staff. The fence design includes protection against tunneling. The main building is designed to accommodate the use of a wheelchair (media have reported issues with the self-proclaimed leader of Belarus’s knee and back).

"Activists from the Belpol initiative revealed in April 2024 that the hotel complex ’Krasnaya Polyana’ is intended to be a future residence for Oleksandr Lukashenko. The facility is located in a mountainous area, 40 kilometers from the Russian resort city of Sochi," the investigation states.