Russian Businessmen Bypass Sanctions to Import Dali, Matisse, and Renoir Paintings from the West

Russia transported more than 200 works of art, including paintings by famous artists, from Western countries to Russia in 2023–2024, with the help of Uzbekistan based logistics company Bek Broker, according to Russian project "Sistema."

Among the company's clients, investigators found the families of Alexei Repik, a developer of Russian occupied Mariupol, and Mkrtich Okroyan, a designer at the "Soyuz" military factory, which manufactures engines for the X-22 cruise missiles that Russia uses to attack Ukraine.

One of the shipments handled by Bek Broker was the transportation of art items from Amsterdam, which were removed from the yacht "Triple Seven", which is owned through an offshore company by Russian businessman Alexei Repik, in early 2023. These included paintings by Salvador Dalí, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Henri Matisse; sculptures by Rembrandt Bugatti and Fernando Botero; as well as Japanese prints—totaling 44 pieces of art valued at $4.6 million.

The art items were sent from the yacht to Tashkent and then to Moscow.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to "System," Bek Broker primarily handled shipments from Russia to Uzbekistan, but the volume of cargo in the opposite direction, from Uzbekistan to Russia, sharply increased. From 2018 to 2022, goods worth $1.5 million were transported from Uzbekistan to Russia, while in the two and a half years since February 24, 2022, this amount rose to $41.6 million. Art items became the main commodity.

The company Bek Broker did not comment on the investigation. Mkrtych Okroyan and Alexey Repik also did not respond to journalists' inquiries, while Repik's daughter, Polina, stated that their family sold the yacht "Triple Seven" in 2021. However, as noted by "Sistema," the yacht is still listed in the public registry as being owned by an offshore company linked to Alexei Repik.

The European Union, the United States, Switzerland, and other countries imposed sanctions on the import of luxury items into Russia after the beginning of it’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These restrictions include works of art and antiques valued over 300 euros.