A British firm appears to have arranged the sale of about $1.2 billion worth of electronic goods into Russia since the launch of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reported Friday.
Russian records list the company, Mykines Corporation LLP, as having sent technical equipment including servers, laptops and computer parts produced by brands including Huawei, Intel, Apple and Samsung, FT reported.
The shipped goods also included high-end microchips, telecom equipment and servers which could be used for infrastructure.
According to the customs filings viewed by FT, at least $982 million of the goods listed as sent by the company are subject to British export restrictions on Russia.
"Mykines had been active in Russia prior to the invasion, but the records imply its business with the country suddenly took off after the onset of the war," FT said.
Shipment of these goods to Moscow without London’s permission may constitute a breach of sanctions even though they entered Russia from third countries, FT said.
Western countries including Britain imposed wide-reaching sanctions including technology export controls on Russia following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Mykines' listed owner, Vitalii Poliakov, 53, is described as a resident of Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian open-source intelligence group Molfar, only one person fits the given description of Poliakov: a road worker employed by a Ukrainian state mining company.
The man did not respond to FT’s requests for comment.
Until August 2022, the controlling owner of Mykines was listed as a 34-year-old Ukrainian woman born in the same town as Poliakov.
She also did not respond to FT's requests for comment.
things_U_choose_2_b on April 7th, 2023 at 18:32 UTC »
Just looked them up on Companies House. They have not submitted accounts since 2020, wtf. If I'm late with my tax as a tiny self-employed worker I get bummed with no lube big time, but corporations can do it freely it seems.
The UK address is listed on the CH site; along with the company members, which sadly are two entities registered in the Virgin Islands. Something tells me the Conservative party will do sweet fuck all about this.
EMERETTE INVESTMENTS LIMITED
VENTAX TRADE LIMITED
Looking up the UK address in google maps, it appears to be a residential address. So tempting as it is to go round there, it's prob someone completely unaware their address is being used for tax fraud (like the baffled guy who has gotten hundreds of Chinese business VAT fraud letters to his address).
edit I've reported this to Chelmsford council and Essex police, not sure it'll do anything but hopefully will either make the resident aware, or get the ball rolling to investigate.
joho999 on April 7th, 2023 at 17:34 UTC »
Looks like russian owned and playing 3 card Monty.
dbarrc on April 7th, 2023 at 17:23 UTC »
The British Firm is