The Belarusian Investigative Center, with the support of Rabochy Rukh and the CyberPartisans, has identified the people behind GrandSpecTrading (HrandSpiecTrejdynh) CJSC, Belarus’ newest special arms exporter.
In March this year, a decree signed by Aliaksandr Lukashenka added the company to the list of special exporters, granting it the right to trade military products. It became the fourth company with such status. The other three — Belvneshpromservice, Belspetsvneshtekhnika and BELTECHEXPORT — have held special exporter status since the last century.
Investigators obtained information about the company’s director. Since March, GrandSpecTrading has been headed by Yauhen Halouchyts (Eugeniy Golovchits). He previously served in the Interior Ministry system, the State Secretariat of the Security Council and the Operational and Analytical Centre. Most recently, he worked as deputy head of the Institute for Advanced Training and Retraining of the Investigative Committee. According to investigators, he also possessed a cover passport issued in the name of Yauhen Malakhouski.
An employee of one of the organisations under the Presidential Property Management Directorate, Aliaksandr Yurachkin, was involved in the registration process of GrandSpecTrading. Investigators believe he is connected to Viktar Sheiman. Yurachkin worked within the directorate when it was headed by Sheiman.
Several months before Sheiman left public service, Yurachkin began working part-time for Vector Capital Group CJSC. The company is considered part of Sheiman’s shadow business empire.
Posing as a potential GrandSpecTrading client, a BIC journalist made several phone calls to Aliaksandr Yurachkin. During one of the conversations, he mentioned the name of Uladzimir Skulavets, recommending that inquiries about cooperation with the new special exporter be directed to him.
According to the Cyber Partisans, Uladzimir Skulavets served in the Main Staff of the Belarusian Armed Forces (now the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus) from 1996 to 2001. The Cyber Partisans do not have precise information about his place of military service between 2001 and 2008, which indirectly supports claims about the classified nature of the special unit that, according to journalists, he commanded. Journalists have previously described Skulavets as “Sheiman’s most trusted associate.”
The full investigation can be read on the BIC website.