As the war in Ukraine rages on and international sanctions against Russian and foreign companies supporting the Russian war effort continue to mount, several companies are redoubling their efforts to circumvent these sanctions and acquire Western equipment for Russian businesses.
IB Office Export: A Key Player in Circumventing International Sanctions
However, some companies are more ingenious than others. This is the case with IB Office (INN 7839414365), an international freight forwarding & consulting company based in Saint-Petersburg.
Founded on November 25th, 2009 by Olga Valentinovna Dmitrieva (INN 532116987128) and her spouse Mohamed Saber Gam (INN 780252192597), who respectively hold 76% and 24% of the company’s shares, this Russian entity has established itself as a key intermediary in the acquisition of Western goods, notably registered on both European and US sanctions lists, like Electronic Integrated Circuits, machine tools and engines, in violation of international sanctions (some goods are directly identified as being inscribed on the list of common high-priority items established by the European Union, and its partners from the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan).
Headed by Olga Evgenievna Nikolaeva (INN 352827896605) since February 20th, 2024, IB Office is regularly mandated by the Russian company based in Krasnoyarsk Techno Group LLC (also known as Geomining; INN 2460119400), to ensure shipment to Russia of goods sourced from countries like Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. In this regard, a certain Arslan Gibadullin and a certain Bella Zhaboedova are the main interlocutors of Olga Dmitrieva. The Russian company seems to be particularly interested in German branded goods. IB Office was also approached by other Russian companies, such as VEDS Ltd (INN 7805741501), to organise delivery of sanctioned goods from Spain to Russia.
To ensure the delivery of these Western goods to Russia, IB Office, according to its 2023 financial report, saw an increase of over 70% in its revenue compared to 2022, reaching the modest sum of 9.1 million rubles (RUB), and a net profit increase of 11%, totaling 544 thousand rubles (RUB), relies on an ingenious logistical and financial scheme. Indeed, Western goods are not directly purchased by Russian companies: payments are mainly made through a Kirghiz intermediary Peretsvo LLC (INN 01503202310065) and to a lesser extent through another Kirghiz intermediary VIPA Bishkek (INN 02109202310534).
IB Office plays a key role in arranging the transport of the goods, by commissioning Turkish companies like Delta Ulus, via a certain Yusuf Sevinç, and Turk Adviser LLC, as well as Russian counterparts such as Transit LLC (INN 2540132492), FF Cargo Services Ltd (INN 7728577050) and SVS Group LLC (INN 7743176504). In most cases, it appears that goods are exported from Western countries to Turkey (and sometimes to The Maldives), and then re-exported to Russia.
It also appears that Techno Group LLC is not always the final user of the Western-imported goods. Notably, companies referred to as «end-users» are located in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan. This region is known for hosting the production of Geran-2 Russian drone used in the Ukrainian conflict.
