The Russians brought military equipment worth over $2 million to Moscow through influencer Waleria Bajgaszczyna. As determined by the BBCthese are camera lenses used in missiles, tanks and airplanes and manufactured by the British company Beck Optronic Solutions.
Russia bypasses sanctions. An influencer came to the rescue
The equipment sent via Bajgaszczyna can be used in medicine or engineering, but the manufacturer itself informs that it also has military applications. However, lenses and other optical technologies produced by Beck Optronics are specifically included in the list of items that cannot be legally transported to Russia or require government consent before the transaction is concluded.
In total, the BBC managed to identify six shipments of Beck Optronic products that arrived in Moscow through Rama Group, Bajgaszczyny's company, or through another intermediary company, Shisan.
Beck Optronic claims that it knew nothing about the shipment and maintains that it did not violate sanctions and does not trade with Russia or Kyrgyzstan, where Baigashchyna's company is registered.
The influencer, who is also a swimsuit model, is a 25-year-old from Kazakhstan, but currently lives in Belarus. As the BBC writes, it cannot be concluded from her social media that she is the president of a company that transported military equipment worth millions of dollars to Russian companies subject to sanctions. Bajgaszczyna claims that she sold the company in May. She also denied the accusations, and before hanging up on the BBC, she said that when she was the owner, there were no such parcels.
However, at least two shipments were made before the influencer sold the company – in December 2023 and January 2024. The business went to her friend Angelika Żurenko, who runs a lingerie company in Kyrgyzstan. Zhurenko also denies breaking the law and maintains that all other information is false. Bajgaszczyna wrote the same in an e-mail to the BBC, calling the accusations ridiculous.
The BBC also reminds that all the countries with which Baygashchyna is linked are post-Soviet countries, historically close to Russia.
Putin mocks sanctions
The editorial team's investigation into the Bajgaszczyna case made journalists wonder whether the sanctions imposed on Russia were working at all. It is questionable that after their introduction, exports from Great Britain to Kyrgyzstan increased by 300%. Experts believe that some of the goods are actually intended for Moscow.
We have already written many times about ways to circumvent sanctions. Vladimir Putin uses intermediaries he also created a fleet of shadows, which transports Russian oil. The European Union even recently launched an investigation regarding a legal loophole that allows countries such as Türkiye to export sanctioned Russian crude oil to the EU.