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Family Matters

Although Aleksandr Lukashenko often publicly discusses “family bonds” and the family cult, he prefers to keep the details of his own family life private. Belarusians generally have limited knowledge of the family of their “elected leader” – only staged photos and dry facts are available on the official website, which is probably all the electorate should know.

 

However, Buro has uncovered details about Lukashenko’s eldest granddaughter, Viktoria: how she is connected to the businesses of Lukashenko’s “moneybag”, what benefits she receives, which company paid for her maternity leave, and what position she held afterwards.

 

Wedding_Victoriya Lukashenka

Viktoria Lukashenko’s wedding. Source: Telegram channel “Pul pervogo”

 

Viktoria Lukashenko’s employment history began in 2018. Throughout August of that year, as a Faculty of International Relations student at Belarusian State University, she worked at the company Art Chaos, which owns an art gallery in the Dana Mall trade centre.

 

At that time, the owner of the firm was a Cyprus-based company, Danlace Holdings, affiliated with Dana Holding, a key asset of Serbian businessmen, whom the U.S. authorities referred to as Lukashenko’s “construction moneybags” – Bogoljub and Dragomir Karićes. Viktoria’s mother, Lilia Lukashenko, has been the gallery director since 2017.

 

Viktoria likely interned at Art Chaos during the summer and even received a small payment of 192 Belarusian rubles. She had another work contract with the gallery from January 1 to 31, 2019, during which she earned a modest wage of 280 rubles.

 

In 2020, Viktoria interned at Rukh Sport Management, owned by Lukashenko’s “moneybag” and the former assistant of Viktoria’s father, Alexander Zaitsev.

According to CyberPartisans, from 2007 to 2012, Alexander Zaitsev was a member of the State Secretariat of the Security Council of Belarus. While working in the Security Council, Zaitsev regularly accompanied Viktor Lukashenko, a member of the organisation, on foreign trips.

Viktoria’s income rose after graduation when she completed training at an IT academy. Three months later, she got a job at the NEO Sports Rehabilitation Centre medical clinic, owned by another Lukashenko’s “moneybag”, businessman Aliaksei Aleksin.

The NEO Sports Rehabilitation Centre was established in 2018 by the Belarusian Biathlon Federation and, two months later, transferred to the ownership of the Belarusian company Neonafta.

 

From 2006, the company was owned by the now-disgraced oligarch Yury Chyzh, his former protégé, Belarusian "tobacco king" Aliaksei Aleksin, and his wife, Ina. In 2016, the Aleksins exited ownership, and Neonafta was transferred to Aleksin's people.

 

50% of Neonafta shares are held by Lidia Ushakova, who previously worked for Aleksin's business partner, Nikolay Vorobey, in his oil trading firm Interservice and logistics company Gaz Venture. Both companies are associated with Aleksin and Zaitsev, the third co-owner of Bremino Group. Just before the imposition of Western sanctions, Ushakova became the owner of BelKazTrans, another company of Vorobey.

 

Two other co-owners of Neonafta are Aleh Herasim (40%) and Aleh Piatrou (10%). Piatrou managed Aleksin's recreation base Siabry. Aleh Herasim is Aliaksei Aleksin's brother-in-law, married to his sister, Sviatlana.

 

In 2021, Neonafta commissioned the reconstruction of a new NEO clinic building next to the Health Commission in Zhdanovichy, Minsk. TageR Invest, which had previously built Aleksin's sports shooting complex, was awarded the contract. Alena Herasim and Pavel Tatarytski registered this company in 2016.

 

Alena Herasim is the daughter of Aleh Herasim and the niece of Aleksin. Pavel Tatarytski has been the director of Ekovo, a construction company tied to Aleksin’s key assets, Belneftegaz (60%) and Energo-Oil (40%), since 2016.

 

Ekovo managed the construction of the first phase of the famous Orsha offshore Bremino-Orsha in the village of Balbasava and the construction of Bremino Group's logistics centres at the border crossings Bruzgi and Berastavitsa.

In four months of 2020, Viktoria Lukashenko earned 6,661 rubles at the NEO Sports Rehabilitation Centre – a good salary for a young graduate. In 2021, she earned 15,340 Belarusian rubles at the medical centre.

 

On March 14, 2022, Viktoria, who changed her surname to Dziatlava, took maternity leave. She officially went on leave on July 18. Starting from that date, the medical centre began to mark the contract for Lukashenko’s eldest granddaughter with the code “children100”.

 

Viktoria remained on maternity leave throughout 2023, but by February 2024, she returned to work and took a position as second secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus. Unfortunately, her salary amount could not be determined in this structure. She combined her work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with her position as chief specialist in NEO Sports Rehabilitation Centre’s marketing department.