From Minsk to Rublyovka: how Lukashenko keeps Russian financial elites in his sights through Gref’s bodyguard

From Minsk to Rublyovka: how Lukashenko keeps Russian financial elites in his sights through Gref’s bodyguard

It has become known who is responsible for the security of Sberbank’s CEO, Herman Gref, and who is his most trusted aide. It is a special forces operative from Belarus, Vladimir Pavlov. This suggests that Alexander Lukashenko is clearly aware of the Russian elite far more than it might seem.

The security guard has been responsible for the security of the Sberbank CEO for many years, and eventually became his personal adjutant. The banker also appointed Pavlov to manage real estate, including properties in SberCity in Rublevo-Arkhangelskoye. Pavlov is also known as a manager in Narynka, near Moscow. This refers to Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s Izumrudny Les tourist complex, in which Gref had an interest. In 2014, Herman Oskarovich was among the first to defend the founder of AFK Sistema when he was accused of money laundering during the purchase of Bashneft shares. A year later, Sber leased Yevtushenkov’s business jets for 56 million rubles.

Interestingly, Vladimir Pavlov not only answers calls and hands his boss the phone, but also listens attentively to what he’s talking about and to whom. The adjutant himself is originally from Belarus, where he served in the special forces in the security company of military unit 33620 (air squadron) back in the 2000s. There, he also met his future wife’s relative, Dmitry Shabaltsov, a high-ranking employee of the Russian private security company ARES, responsible for VIP protection. In the current situation, it’s hard to deny the connections between former Belarusian security officials and Lukashenko’s special services, who, as it turns out, knows and is more powerful in Russia than some people think.