Page 66 - bne Magazine February 2023

66 I Eastern Europe bne February 2023
In Poland, the Polish registered import company “Belarusian Forest Company” (BLK) had by September 2022 transferred $17mn to its parent company, the Mostovdrev Belarusian state woodwork enterprise.
When reached for a comment, Mostovdrev told BIC that BLK did not receive the money for selling products subject to EU sanctions. However, information on the BLK’s website shows that it only trades in products under the prohibited customs code 44. When contacted by BIC journalists posing as
potential buyers, the BLK seller said that while it did still have Belarusian wood in stock, it was going to run out of it soon. However, the BLK had apparently instead begun working with new suppliers from Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
These recent findings by BIC details how Belarusian suppliers use third countries to access the EU market and this circumventing sanctions. While several Western experts, custom’s offices and government officials
have warned that Belarus and Russia circumvent sanctions through third
countries, Belarusian officials have also themselves already hinted that they actively seek to do this. These findings puts the comments by Parkhomchik and Orlovsky in a new light and adds
to the currently ongoing discussion in EU circles about the creation of an EU agency like the US’ OFAC.
Bne IntelliNews has previously covered other investigations by BIC. The
latest one detailed the high life of Lukashenko’s son Dimitry and his wife Anna Lukashenko.
The McDonald's question in Belarus bne IntelliNews
On November 11, it became known that the company KSB Victory Restaurants that managed the 25 McDonald’s restaurants in Belarus had signed a franchise agreement
with the successor to McDonald’s in Russia, “Vkusno I tochka”, to replace McDonald’s in Belarus. This sparked outrage among Belarusians on social media channels. The lines were long at McDonald’s restaurants during its last opening days both inside and in the drive-throughs, as many Belarusians wanted to get a taste of the McDonald's burgers before they’re replaced.
On November 18, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko commented on the matter during a speech to farmers from state agri-companies, saying: “Good riddance” and “we know how
to cut a bun in half.” However, he also believed that McDonald’s should be replaced by a Belarusian company.
As of yet, Vkusno i tochka has not entered the Belarusian market. The company’s owner, Alexander Govor, recently
told Interfax that the replacement of McDonald’s by Vkusno i tochka had in fact not yet been discussed.
Lashing out against foreign companies leaving Belarus, Lukashenko once again reiterated his statement from
www.bne.eu
mid-November on December 12: that
a foreign company is nationalised from the moment it leaves Belarus. According to him, whatever is left after McDonald’s is now “our enterprise”.
Lukashenko said this in connection
to the question of Ukrainian, Polish, Swedish (specifically IKEA) and Finnish investors leaving the country. This makes one wonder if the Belarusian state actually has the capacity to successfully (if at all) run all the businesses that are left by foreign investors.
Today, the old McDonald’s restaurants remain, but they are run without a brand and the text outside of the restaurants simply reads “We are open!” The restaurants also have a new menu which has not been well received by Belarusians.
When independent Belarusian media outlet Zerkalo took a closer look at
who owned the restaurants, it turned out that they’re still owned and run by KSB Victory Restaurants. The company is owned by “KSB victory restaurants pte. Ltd.,” which is based in Singapore and has two shareholders: Rapid food holding pte. Ltd and Sengermen pte. Ltd.
Rapid food holding pte. Ltd. is owned by Kazakh businessman Kairat Boranbayev, who was detained by Kazakhstan’s
Financial Monitoring Agency in March this year on embezzlement charges. Sengermen pte. Ltd. is owned by Belarusian businesswoman Victoria Danko, who is also listed as the director of KSB Victory Restaurants. Danko has worked in the McDonald’s franchise since 1996; she has not commented on the recent developments on the fast food market in Belarus.
Perhaps it will take some time for KSB to rebrand its restaurants but being wary
of the Belarusian economy’s immense dependence on Russia, Lukashenko
will likely continue to favour Belarusian companies before Russian ones. This indicates that Belarusian businessmen and women will probably take on and play a larger role in filling out the market void left by Western companies leaving the country.
A former Mcdonald's restaurant in Minsk, which today simply reads "We are open!" / Realt.by