Cyprus’s former President and the Lukashenko money trail: how family firms helped evade EU sanctions

For the first time, a high-ranking European politician has been implicated in sanctions evasion. An investigation by the Belarusian Investigative Center (BIC) reveals that a company owned by former Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades played a role in such violations. Moreover, firms connected to his family facilitated smuggling schemes worth billions of dollars and funded lavish vacations for Aleksandr Lukashenko’s inner circle.

This investigation was conducted in partnership with the Cypriot outlet CIReN, German outlets ZDF, Der Standard, and Paper Trail Media, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), with support from Rabochy Ruch and CyberPartisans.

In early 2026, Cyprus assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. Nicosia highlighted the “proper implementation of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus” as a key priority for its six-month term. Yet Cyprus had previously distinguished itself by blocking sanctions against Belarusian officials. On 21 September, 2020, the EU Council failed to adopt restrictive measures against Minsk over election fraud and repression, with Cyprus as the holdout. Media reports suggested Nicosia sought leverage to impose EU sanctions on Turkey amid longstanding disputes over the 1974 invasion and maritime boundaries. In an interview with OCCRP, financier and anti-Kremlin lobbyist Bill Browder suggested Cyprus’s actions might stem from deep financial ties to Russia.

BIC’s findings show that years earlier, the family-linked law firm of then-President Anastasiades serviced a businessman from Lukashenko’s circle and assisted in circumventing EU sanctions imposed after the 2010 election and ensuing crackdown.

Servicing a sanctioned entity

From 2012 to 2015, the EU sanctioned Belarusian businessman Yury Chyzh and several of his companies, including STAA TriplePharm (a Belarusian limited liability joint venture), for financially supporting the Lukashenko regime. However, two co-owners of TriplePharm – Cypriot firms Welgro Services Limited and Profax Investments Limited, escaped sanctions. These companies were owned and managed by Imperium Nominees Limited, another Cyprus-registered entity belonging to Anastasiades’s daughter Elsa Anastasiades and his longtime business partners Stathis A. Lemis and Theophanis Th. Philippou.

Financial statements from the Cypriot owners hint at ongoing ties with the sanctioned Belarusian asset. In 2013, TriplePharm owed money to Profax; by 2014, those debts vanished, while Profax recorded incoming repayments from loans. Such transactions could violate EU sanctions. Adding to the concerns, Yury Chyzh claimed in a letter to Cyprus’s Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property that he beneficially owned Profax from 2008 to 2017 “through Imperium Nominees.” BIC obtained this letter with assistance from Rabochy Ruch.

During the sanctions period, which froze the economic activities of Chyzh’s companies, one of his EU-registered firms continued to transfer funds. After receiving loan repayments from TriplePharm, Profax withdrew the money as administrative expenses.

To assess the legality, BIC consulted the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC). The institute explained that sanctions aim to restrict financial capabilities rather than dissolve entities. Where a sanctioned director or manager cannot be removed, measures must prevent any direct or indirect benefit – whether funds, benefits in kind, or decision-making influence, and service providers may freeze access to accounts.

Nicos Anastasiades was not only indirectly linked but directly involved until 2013, when he co-owned Imperium Services Limited, which acted as Profax’s secretary during the sanctions period. The Anastasiades family is unlikely to claim ignorance: Profax’s legal adviser during these transactions was Nicos Chr Anastasiades & Partners, the firm Anastasiades founded in 2001. He transferred ownership just two days before his 2013 presidential inauguration, but the partners, his daughters Elsa and Ino, along with Lemis and Philippou, remained until the firm’s dissolution in 2022.

Billions in smuggling profits and the “Deposit haircut”

Anastasiades-linked companies also connected to a notorious Belarusian smuggling operation in 2011–2012, in which Russian gasoline was re-exported as solvents and diluents to evade export duties owed to Moscow under bilateral agreements. Belarusian firms declared petroleum products as lower-duty chemicals, allowing Lukashenko associates to pocket enormous profits until Russia intervened.

The central player was Mabor Co Limited, through which most smuggling flows passed. Imperium Nominees owned and directed Mabor, while Imperium Services Limited and Nicos Chr Anastasiades & Partners served as secretary and legal adviser. Major Belarusian participants included SZAT TripleEnergo and TDA Belnaftahaz, co-owned by Aliaksei Aleksin, Chyzh’s then-partner. Documents obtained by BIC with Rabochy Ruch assistance show that in 2010, nearly 91% of Belnaftahaz’s revenue, almost $250 million, came from trade with Mabor. In the first half of 2012 alone, Mabor contracted with Belnaftahaz for $1.3 billion in “solvent” supplies. Mabor’s 2011 turnover exceeded $4 billion, five times the prior year’s figure.

Another channel involved Lithuania’s One Energy UAB, owned by Vilius Kavaliauskas of provider firm UAB Lewben, which serviced sanctioned Belarusians Aliaksei Aleksin and Aleksandr Zaitsev. Its suppliers included Belarusian firms TAA Triple, TripleEnergo, and Belnaftahaz.

The real beneficiary of Mabor remains unclear, though financial statements list related companies potentially under common control. At least one tied back to Chyzh’s network; another linked to Lewben employees and later to Chyzh’s Lithuanian partner Vitold Tomasevskij, who joined the solvents scheme and co-owned Minsk’s ProStore hypermarkets with Chyzh. Contracts for Mabor were signed by Theophanis Th. Philippou, who visited Belarus seven times between 2008 and 2011 for unspecified “personal matters.”

Vacations, Forex, and casinos

Beyond sanctions evasion and smuggling, BIC uncovered further ties between Anastasiades’s partners and Lukashenko’s “wallets”, and Lukashenko himself.

In January 2012, amid the solvents scheme, Cypriot firm Bertament Limited booked a 16-day stay at Belarus’s Krasnaya Polyana recreation center for $25,000. Theophanis Th. Philippou signed on Bertament’s behalf. Guest lists obtained via Rabochy Ruch include Chyzh, fellow businessmen Alexander Shackutin and Sergei Teterin, athletes, officials, models, singers, a teacher of Lukashenko’s son, and Lukashenko’s confessor. The trip overlapped with Lukashenko’s own visit, combining talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and leisure.

Bertament’s nominal owners were Imperium Nominees and Imperium Services, with Elsa and Nicos Anastasiades as majority shareholders at the time. Evidence suggests Chyzh as the true beneficiary: Profax’s 2021 report lists a $5 million loan from Bertament under “Loans from Related Companies,” and Chyzh previously claimed ownership of Profax. Chyzh later funded a similar trip through another company.

In 2013, Philippou signed commercial offers for Belarusian petroleum products on behalf of Edena Investments Limited, bearing seals from both Edena and Imperium Nominees. Edena gained notoriety in 2016 during the trial of Kazbek Yaprintsev, son of Chyzh’s former partner, who testified to receiving prepayments for oil products into Edena and losing them on Forex.

Anastasiades family firms also serviced Roslaton Holdings Limited, which held a stake in Minsk’s Shangri La casino until 2019. Roslaton listed UAE’s Petrotrade, owned by Dzmitry Aleksin, son of Lukashenko associate Aliaksei Aleksin, as a related company.

BIC sought comment from all named individuals and companies. Yury Chyzh declined to respond. Former President Nicos Anastasiades stated he was unaware of the matters and could not comment, adding that persistent allegations would force him to pursue legal action. Theophanis Philippou initially recalled Mabor but not partners, later threatening consequences for inaccurate publication. In writing on behalf of Nicos Chr Anastasiades & Partners LLC, he denied all allegations as groundless and threatened defamation proceedings and damages claims.

The original article, published by EUalive’s partner – the Belarusian Investigative Center, can be found here.

Caption: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrives to attend a meeting of the supreme council of the Union State with Russian President Vladimir Putin (not pictured) at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, 26 February 2026. EPA/PAVEL BEDNYAKOV / AP POOL