Criminal transit under the protection of a deputy prime minister: how cyber fraudster Serazhudin Aktulaev, through “Master Berring,” supplied Russia with sanctioned equipment

Criminal transit under the protection of a deputy prime minister: how cyber fraudster Serazhudin Aktulaev, through “Master Berring,” supplied Russia with sanctioned equipment

40-year-old Serazhudin Aktulaev, whose extradition to the United States was recently approved by a Cyprus court, is connected to a number of high-ranking officials from Chechnya and was involved in supplying equipment to Russia in circumvention of sanctions and in trading petroleum products. In the States, he is charged with cyber fraud.

Aktulaev is a native of Grozny and was registered as an individual entrepreneur in Chechnya until the end of 2024 (restaurant activities); he regularly traveled to Moscow, and after the start of the war, he often flew to Turkey and the UAE. Aktulaev has a very wide circle of acquaintances; among his friends and business partners are people connected to large oil and gas businesses. And in the phones of acquaintances, Serazhudin Aktulaev was listed as “Seradji Mayoria.”

Aktulaev indeed has friends among Chechen officials. On social media, his friend is Khamzat Shabazov, an employee of the Chechen Vice Premier (Minister of Economic Development) Rustam Shaptukaev.

In addition, Aktulaev flew from Grozny to Moscow several times together with Muslim Adiev—this is a former footballer, the brother of football coach Magomed Adiev, who coached the Kazakhstan national team as well as Grozny’s Akhmat. After ending his football career, Muslim Adiev became an official and from February 2017 to July 2024 headed the Chechen State Public Institution “Department for Ensuring the Activities of the Committee on State Procurement of the Chechen Republic.”

Furthermore, Serazhudin Aktulaev flew from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don together with Ahmed Mushtargaev. In 2023-24, Mushtargaev was listed as a founder of the large company LLC “MASTER BEARING.” Since 2022, its revenue has sharply increased—from 44 million rubles to 4.3 billion.

This firm is engaged in importing industrial solutions to the Russian Federation, providing engineering and foreign economic services. The company’s website states that it has offices in Turkey, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Poland, Hong Kong, the UAE, and the Seychelles. Already during the war, the company launched logistics for oversized cargo and a reverse engineering division—that is, copying and producing sanctioned Western equipment. In addition, “Master Bearing” has processed several hundred declarations and certificates of conformity for imported products, including from manufacturers in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, and other countries. Judging by the foreign economic activity codes, some goods were imported in circumvention of sanctions—these are machine tools, equipment for the oil and gas sector, American Caterpillar bulldozers, and other machinery. The composition of the company’s founders regularly changes; currently, it is registered to Artem Konyukhovsky and Ramil Shavaleev—this is the son of Damir Shavaleev, a former top manager at “Sibur,” former CEO of JSC “Gazprom Neftkhim Salavat.” Judging by common top managers and phone numbers, the same group includes six more companies—“TsMTO1,” “MFVS,” “RAD RESOURCE,” “PROMKOMPLEKT,” “INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS,” and “SHAVKON.”

In particular, “TsMTO1” is the official distributor of Russian lubricants and an importer of oils from EU countries. Along with synthetic oils, the companies bring imported equipment to the Russian Federation—for example, forklifts from Italy. At the same time, the company itself advertises on the web as a supplier of equipment and spare parts from the EU and the USA. Among the founders of “TsMTO1” in 2023-24 was also an acquaintance of Serazhudin Aktulaev—Ahmed Mushtargaev.

Currently, part of this group, through LLC “Company RIA,” is controlled by Bashkir billionaire Radik Sultanov—the main owner of the telecom operator “Ufanet” and large glass enterprises in Bashkiria and Dagestan.