Russian foreign intelligence service imports Czech beer via sanctions workarounds

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service has continued to buy Czech beer for its staff after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, despite sanctions.

Source: Page Not Found, a Czech independent media project, as reported by The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet

Details: Although the Czech Republic's largest breweries, Pilsner Urquell, Budweiser Budvar, Staropramen and Bernard, have halted supplies to Russia because of the war, their products have continued to reach the country via intermediaries.

An analysis of customs data and state contracts established that the Foreign Intelligence Service-controlled federal state company FKP Yasen has been purchasing beer from the Russian company PintaKlab. PintaKlab receives supplies from the Czech firms RedFood and Custom Trade as well as the Serbian company Craft Connect, which was established after the start of the war. All are linked to businessman Mikhail Kapitanov.

From September 2024 to February 2025 alone, his European companies sold PintaKlab almost 1.3 million litres of beer worth 25 million Czech koruna (US$1.1 million).

Background:

• Russian oligarch Gennady Timchenko, a long-time friend of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, acquired the Baltika brewery for 34 billion roubles (US$433 million).
• Russian Telegram channel Sirena ("Alarm") reported that the purchase was financed from what it described as a "slush fund" linked to the presidential entourage, a firm run by Putin's trusted associates and used to pay the personal expenses of the Russian leader's family.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!