{"id":207831,"date":"2026-10-17T01:48:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T22:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/207831\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T01:48:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T22:48:44","slug":"eu-blacklisted-businessman-says-he-wants-no-gifts-from-state","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/207831\/","title":{"rendered":"EU-blacklisted businessman says he wants no gifts from state"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n Mikalaj Varabiej\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (tut.by)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 16, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Mikalaj Varabiej, a Belarusian businessman subject to the European Union\u2019s sanctions, told reporters that he would pay for any public assets handed over to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would not want to take anything from the state. As a businessman, I believe that one should give to the state,\u201d Varabiej said, after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka offered him farmland and financial support for agricultural projects in the Viciebsk region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varabiej announced plans to develop dairy and animal farming as well as tourism and healthcare services in the region through his company \u010cyrvony Bor Ahra. He said that the projects would create jobs, raise living standards and improve the local infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The businessman also revealed that employees of his \u010cyrvony Bor hunting and tourism center had formed a militia unit, whose training exercise he said had been attended by \u0141uka\u0161enka. Varabiej said the unit consists of company employees trained to defend their communities and families and is not a \u201cprivate army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka made the offer to Varabiej on Thursday while visiting the Vierchniad\u017avinsk district and inspecting \u010cyrvony Bor Ahra. He acknowledged that handing state assets over to private owners is a \u201clast resort,\u201d but argued that it would be justified in the case of the Viciebsk region, whose \u201cnorthern part will perish without the toughest discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union imposed a travel ban and an asset freeze on Mikalaj Varabiej, often called \u201c\u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s wallet,\u201d following the violent suppression of peaceful post-election protests in Belarus in 2020 and a subsequent crackdown on the regime\u2019s opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, Varabiej and his business partner Alaksandar Zajca\u016d sought the removal of sanctions against their core asset, Bremino Group, through the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, but the court rejected their suit, arguing that Bremino Group co-manages the Bremino-Or\u0161a Special Economic Zone, which had been established by Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka and enjoys state support along with financial, tax and other privileges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court described Varabiej as a leading Belarusian businessman with interests in petroleum, coal transit, banking and other sectors, who benefits from close ties to \u0141uka\u0161enka and his family. Bremino Group \u201cenjoys tax breaks and other forms of support from the Belarusian administration\u201d and is \u201cbenefitting from and supporting\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s regime, the ruling said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varabiej has also been linked to a company that supplied Russia with a solvent used for the production of chemical weapons and accused of owning elite real estate in Austria in violation of sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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