Fraud, shadow schemes, and bypassing sanctions: How Vitaliy Sobolevskiy’s business serves the Russian authorities

• 06.03.2025 18:11

Vitaliy Sobolevskiy, a Belarusian-Russian entrepreneur, runs an international business by laundering money for the Russian authorities and facilitating the circumvention of sanctions.

At the beginning of February, information emerged that the Belarusian chain "Three Prices (Tri Tseny)", managed by the company "Play Hard," plans to open 220 new stores in Russia across 9 cities. The owner of the chain is Vitaliy Sobolevskiy, who previously avoided publicizing his presence in the Russian market.

On an international level, Vitaliy Sobolevskiy positions himself as a manager of an IT business operating in the Western and Chinese markets. In Belarus, apart from the "Three Prices" chain, Sobolevskiy owns the "United Mining Company," offering potential clients a gateway into the crypto world and investment in the digital economy.

In Russia, the Belarusian businessman is the founder of the company "Softvoya," established back in 2016, which develops computer software. The firm has only one employee, indicating a shell company. The company has a subsidiary, "VB Fixmarket," whose co-founder is the Belarusian "Play Hard" LLC.

"VB Fixmarket" LLC was established in 2022 and operates universal stores selling a general assortment of goods. This company, with only one employee, is set to begin its expansion into the Russian retail market, including Moscow, the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, and the Leningrad region. Without the support of heavyweights in the Russian authorities, this is unlikely to be possible.

In February, Sergey Maysyuk took the position of general director of "VB Fixmarket" LLC, replacing Irina Rud, the head of "Softvoya" LLC. Before her, the company was led by Aslizhan Huseynovna Kadyrova in 2021-2022. It is known that Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, has a cousin named Huseyn Kadyrov, who heads the Committee on Economic, Investment Policy, and Property Relations in the parliament of the republic. If Sobolevskiy has secured Ramzan Kadyrov’s support, the ambitious plans of the Belarusian businessman to expand his network could be realized.

Back in 2021, Vitaliy Sobolevskiy attempted to register the "Three Prices" brand in Russia but was denied. In 2020, Sobolevskiy announced the creation of the Sokol Capital fund, accepting investments from Belarusians. It was planned that European funds would also enter the fund, as Vitaliy Sobolevskiy is a resident and mentor of the closed Polish club BIZON, which brings together businessmen from Poland, the Baltic states, and Germany who speak Russian. The club serves as a perfect cover for Sobolevskiy for money laundering.

Eventually, the "Sokol Capital" investment fund was established. However, it remains unknown what relation Vitaliy Sobolevskiy has to it. The organization has no contacts; you can only leave an application on the website that started working in 2022. The trademark "Sokol Capital" is registered to JSC "Inzhtrugstroy," with the application submitted in October 2022, and registration is valid from August 2023 until October 2032.

JSC "Inzhtrugstroy" is associated with LLC "Financial Corporation Nikoil," owned by Lyudmila Kogan, a shareholder of the "UralSib" bank and the widow of its former owner, Vladimir Kogan, one of Vladimir Putin’s close friends. Behind the "Sokol Capital" fund, which has no contacts, anyone from the Russian authorities could stand.

However, it is unlikely that investors will trust an organization that has neither a history nor an image, only investment proposals. Unknown specialists from the fund could deceive, and no one is insured against this. It is possible that it was this project Vitaliy Sobolevskiy tried to promote in Belarus. If so, it further confirms the connection of the Belarusian businessman with the Russian authorities. In this case, the green light for his "Three Prices" network is assured.

Another proof of hiding his connections with Russia is Sobolevskiy’s "Atalian" project—comprehensive building maintenance, which operates worldwide. There is a website with a Belarusian address launched in 2021, and there is a similar one created in 2024 with an address in France.

It turned out that this company also operates in Russia, where in 2003, "Atalian Engineering" LLC was registered, whose founders are "AGS" LLC (Atalian Global Services) and "ASS" LLC (Atalian Support Services), the first was established in 2016, the second in 2015, both around the same time as "Softvoya" LLC.

The ultimate beneficiary of "AGS" LLC and "ASS" LLC is the Luxembourg "Atalian International S.A." It turns out that the Belarusian and French "Atalian" companies’ roots are in Russia and help its authorities bypass sanctions.

Analysis of the Belarusian-Polish-French-Russian activities of Vitaliy Sobolevskiy raises genuine bewilderment as to why he has not yet come under Western sanctions. Perhaps this investigation will prompt Western institutions to pay attention to the international fraudster.