BBC: British equipment worth millions went to Russia through an influencer

The documentation obtained by the BBC shows that the company belonged to influencer Waleria Bajgaszczyna. British manufacturer exported to Russia Beck Optronic Solutions supplied components for Challenger 2 tanks and F35 fighters. When asked about this transaction by the BBC, the company assured that it had not acted against the sanctions imposed on Russia and did not know anything about these shipments, and the customs documents could have been forged.

The British broadcaster's investigation showed that there is no circumstantial evidence that Beck Optronic Solutions knowingly supports the Russian military industry.

25-year-old Bajgaszczyna is a citizen Kazakhstan living on Belarus. According to Belarusian documents – writes the BBC – Bajgashchyna is the founder and director of Rama Group LLC., which was established in 2023 and is registered in Bishkek, the capital Kyrgyzstan.

An investigation by British journalists showed that Rama Group delivered two out of six shipments of high-quality optical devices used for missiles, tanks or fighter jets to Moscow. Shisan LLC, also registered in Kyrgyzstan, is responsible for the rest of the transports. The value of all exported equipment was $2.1 million. Rama Group and Shisan LLC. are registered in Bishkek at the same address.

Two of the six shipments went to the Ural Optical & Mechanical Plant – also sanctioned by the US Treasury – which produces military equipment used, among others, for bombs.

In an interview with the BBC, Bajgaszczyna said that the information about her involvement in the transactions was not true, and Rama Group no longer belonged to her. According to the BBC, the influencer sold the form to her friend Andżelika Żurenko in May this year. Both Zhurenko and the company's director Shisan denied selling the equipment to Russia.

However, as the BBC writes, an analysis of customs documents conducted by the Washington think tank C4ADS showed that between July and December 2023, Shisan carried out 373 transports of military equipment through Kyrgyzstan to Russia.

Among these shipments, 288 were marked by customs officers as “high priority shipments intended for the front.”

During the same period, Rama Group completed a total of 1,756 shipments to Russia, including 1,355 also marked as “high priority front-line shipments.”

Since February 2022, when Russia was placed under sanctions, exports from the UK to Kyrgyzstan have increased by 300 per cent, trade records show. According to experts, some of the export goods were intended for the Russian market, the BBC reported.

The British broadcaster assessed that this case shows that the sanctions system is flawed, and London's efforts to convince Bishkek to limit trade ties with Russia have not brought the expected results.