Sanction Breakers : These Kyrgyz companies are keeping Russian planes flying

Thanks to companies based in Kyrgyzstan, Russia continues to import aeronautical equipment made by major French and American manufacturers, despite the embargo linked to the war in Ukraine. This circumvention of western sanctions has made Kyrgyzstan a hotspot for the transportation of goods destined for Russia’s military-industrial complex.

A Boeing 737-700 similar to this one was purchased by a Russian company, in December 2022, from a company based in Kyrgyzstan.

Key findings

Kyrgyzstan is more than just a hub for trafficking European luxury cars to Russia.
We identified several Kyrgyz and Russian companies specializing in the trade of aeronautical equipment.
This equipment, with dual civilian and military uses, can be implemented by the Russian military-industrial complex in its war against Ukraine.

By Cécile Andrzejewski

February 26, 2025

Michelin tires, an Airbus chassis, a Thales navigation system, and Safran hydraulic equipment: all highly useful components in the aviation industry, both civil and military.

According to Russian customs information, obtained by the British NGO Open Source Centre and consulted by Forbidden Stories, these products were discreetly imported into Russia between 2023 and 2024, some through Turkey, via the Kyrgyz business Service Fly Bishkek and its sole customer, the Russian company Warehouse Foress.

When contacted, the well-known European manufacturers all explained that they had ceased business activities with Russia, sometimes implementing clauses forbidding exports to the country, and had no relationship with either Service Fly Bishkek or Warehouse Foress (see their full replies at the end of this article). Western sanctions against Moscow have restricted imports since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

On October 30, 2024, Service Fly Bishkek was indeed sanctioned by the American authorities for “operating in the aerospace sector of the Russian Federation economy.” More specifically, this came after the company sent the aforementioned components from leading French manufacturers, among other parts, to Warehouse Foress, which was also sanctioned.

OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) is a financial control agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, responsible for the application of American sanctions. The Kyrgyz company Service Fly Bishkek is listed here on its website. – Screenshot of the OFAC website

In response to the invasion of Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Japan drew up a list of fifty dual-use products that Russia is seeking to procure for its war effort. Typically for civilian use, these parts risk being exploited by Russia’s military-industrial complex once exported.

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Kyrgyzstan in US crosshairs

This list was used as the basis for sanctions against various companies, particularly in Kyrgyzstan. Indeed, as Forbidden Stories and its partners in the Sanction Breakers Project discovered, the country is not just a hub for trafficking European luxury cars into Russia. By continuing the investigative efforts of imprisoned Kyrgyz journalists from Temirov Live, it became clear that equipment far more formidable than vehicles was transiting through Bishkek: for example, “sensitive dual-use goods [destined for] entities in Russia’s defense sector,” as described by the US Treasury Department back in July 2023.

The Treasury states that “one of the most common tactics Russian entities have used to continue their importation of foreign-made electronics and technology” is to go through third-party countries. One of these is Kyrgyzstan. Although it shares no borders with Russia, this former soviet republic of seven million inhabitants is nevertheless closely connected, not least because of its large expatriate workforce.

“These countries play the role of intermediaries, and it’s in their interest to do so,” said Carl Grekou, an economist at the Centre for Prospective Studies and International Information (CEPII). “For them, it’s about being a gateway into Russia. Without any real fear, they won’t apply the sanctions.”

Temirov Live journalists during their trial in October 2024. – Credit : Private

Speaking to Forbidden Stories, a State Department spokesperson was more specific about the Kyrgyz company. “Service Fly Bishkek sent a range of [dual-use] items to Russian-based Warehouse Foress, including US- and EU-origin items,” he said. Whether the parts sent by Service Fly Bishkek ended up on the Ukrainian front is hard to say. However, on condition of anonymity, a western diplomatic source told us that the kinds of goods shipped to Russia by Service Fly Bishkek are commonly used in the Russian military-industrial complex.

“Civil aviation is not directly responsible for the equipment deployed on the front lines,” said Tony Fortin, a researcher at the Armaments Observatory. However, he continued, sanctions are applied when “we’re dealing with dual-use goods. In these cases, items can be adapted to the military domain. For example, a Russian regional jet could eventually be used as a military cargo plane… The second issue is that airliners can transport troops for strategic maneuvers in Russia.”

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A web of companies

Who’s behind Service Fly Bishkek? According to the Kyrgyz Republic Register of Legal Entities, a man named Magamed Omarov, 50, founded the company in May 2023 and continues to head it. Unknown to the general public, he is the son of Gadzhiramazan Omarov—a close associate of colonel Omurbek Egemberdiev, former spokesman for the Kyrgyz interior ministry and unsuccessful candidate in the 2011 presidential election.

Service Fly Bishkek proved almost impossible to contact, with no available telephone number or email. When a member of the Sanction Breaker Project visited the company’s official address, he was told, in front of the supposed offices, that Service Fly Bishkek was not located there. Magamed Omarov did not respond to our requests sent via social media (Facebook).

According to data provided by Open Source Centre, which documents military and dual-use trade with Russia, Service Fly Bishkek’s sole customer is Warehouse Foress, also established in May 2023. According to Russian customs information, obtained by Open Source Centre and consulted by Forbidden Stories, Service Fly Bishkek is responsible for over 2,500 shipments of parts worth more than $20 million to Warehouse Foress. The company didn’t answer our questions.

According to a list sent to Forbidden Stories by Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an advisor to president Volodymyr Zelensky in charge of sanctions against Russia, among these 2,500 items were : AC generators, DC motors, rechargeable batteries, panels, consoles, switchboards, printed circuits, gaskets, washers, electrical conductors, ferrous metal and plastic products, valves, bearings, fasteners, screws, bolts and nuts.

Warehouse Foress itself is headed by Konstantin Ryabinkin. In addition to his dealings with Service Fly Bishkek, his company imported nearly $3.5 million worth of goods from another Kyrgyz entity. In Russia, Ryabinkin also runs a rail transport business linked to the owner of a US-sanctioned airline.

In July 2023, the Russian company Direct Investments based in Krasnodar imported an entire plane for $60 million. It was, in value, the largest import into Russia from Kyrgyzstan since the invasion of Ukraine. This is the plane. – Screenshot of the Flightradar24 website

A Boeing 737 imported for $32 million

“We have observed aviation-related goods going via Kyrgyzstan,” said Hamish Macdonald, senior analyst at the Open Source Centre. Further data gathered by the British NGO indicates that in July 2023, the Krasnodar-based Russian company Direct Investments imported an entire aircraft for $60 million. In terms of value, this was the biggest import into Russia from Kyrgyzstan since the invasion of Ukraine.

According to our colleagues at Radio Free Europe, Direct Investments is owned by Russian oligarch Alexander Tkachev, former governor of the Krasnodar region and former minister of agriculture of the Russian Federation. His former assistant at the Ministry of Agriculture, Vera Tonkikh, formally owns the company, which appears to have imported nothing other than this aircraft. She did not respond to our interview requests.

The second largest Russian importer, Trans Capital JSC, is located in Moscow and also did not answer our questions. On December 30, 2022, the company bought a Boeing 737-700 from the Bishkek-based Big Mountain Group for $32 million. Troublingly, the same aviation broker, a man named Sergey E., claims he oversaw the plane deliveries to both Direct Investment in Krasnodar and Trans Capital JSC in Moscow.

“The corporate details pertaining to the Russian buyers in these plane shipments are similar,” said the Open Source Centre. “They are companies set up after the invasion, with very little footprint at the time of the purchases.”

Ultimately, the effectiveness of sanctions is uncertain. “If the idea is to make life more difficult for Russian companies, with goods that are harder to find or more expensive, then we can say they’re effective,” said Grekou from CEPII. “But not wanting the Russians to have access to a particular product at all is a utopian goal. It’s not possible.”

“Once a piece of equipment leaves Western countries without inspection, if there is demand in Russia, it will be met by intermediaries,” he continued. “There are always parallel markets. Effective sanctions remain a pure illusion.”

And circumvention is becoming a flourishing business.