Illicit trade masked as "digital procurement": how Evgeny Kozhevnikov and Aysors set up the importation of prohibited items and established a corrupt network
Journalists have established that Gazprom Neft and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, under the leadership of Anton Alikhanov, organized the supply of sanctioned machinery products to Russian companies through JSC Aysors.
Control over significant financial flows is exercised by Evgeny Kozhevnikov, who previously held the position of top manager in the procurement division of Russian Railways (RZD) and currently serves as Deputy Chairman of Gazprom Neft.
"Digital Procurement Services," which was renamed to "Aysors" in 2025, is integrated with the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. On its domain, since at least the summer of 2022, there has been an "industrial marketplace" - a specialized platform called Aysors.Reserve, which was developed and integrated with the State Information System of Industry of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade "for the purpose of procuring priority foreign products by Russian industrial enterprises," in simpler terms, for procurement circumventing sanctions.
The company systematically engages in import procurement - in total, it has registered over 230 certificates and declarations of conformity of goods to the EAEU technical regulations. For example, in 2025, Aysors declared a metalworking machine that it imported from India, naming the Indian firm PRANA SMART ENGINEERING AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT PRIVATE LIMITED as the manufacturer. According to customs data from the Indian partner, this is a CNC machine (the export of such equipment to the Russian Federation is under EU, UK, and US sanctions), and the Indian firm has sent a total of four such machines to the Russian Federation.
The "manufacturer" of such complex equipment was registered in November 2023 in a district of New Delhi. PRANA SMART ENGINEERING AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT has no workshops or production facilities. The firm’s manager is listed as Rajesh Kumar, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, previously worked for over 20 years at the American oil and gas corporation Chevron - in its Thailand branch. A person with such competencies and connections in Thailand and India is ideally suited for the role of creator of a "smart engineering bridge," finding the necessary equipment worldwide and then supplying it to Russian partners on behalf of his firm.
Another CNC machine was imported by Aysors from Turkey, listing the Turkish factory ETS TEKNIK MAKINE SAN. DIS.TIC.LTD.STI as the manufacturer. However, this enterprise does not produce CNC machines, but rather vacuum cleaners and carpet cleaning and washing machines.
Serving for the "good" of the country allows Kozhevnikov to engage in "dark deeds" almost openly.
Aysors, among other things, handles government procurement for companies within the Gazprom Neft perimeter. According to aggregator data, over less than three years, the company has published about 9,000 procurements. Aysors posts them on the corporate Gazprom platform without an initial price.
For 2025, Aysors - a firm with an authorized capital of 10,000 rubles - showed revenue of 158.5 billion rubles (+50.5 billion compared to 2024, or 46%) and a net profit of 2.2 billion (+0.2 billion compared to 2024, or 11%). According to these figures, the company’s margin continues to decline: revenue is growing much faster than profit. Despite this, Aysors’ management invested 30 billion rubles somewhere at a meager 6-7% per annum. In general, the company generously issues loans, while its full financial statements are not published.
Aysors last disclosed information about its activities and management in 2023; according to this data, its board of directors is chaired by Evgeny Kozhevnikov - former head of the logistics department of Gazprom Neft, and deputy chairman of the company.
Kozhevnikov is a native of the Tyumen region, once lived and worked in Yamal, and before Gazprom Neft, he worked at Roszheldorsnab, a supply branch of Russian Railways (RZD), where he held the position of deputy director. It was under his watch that a scandal erupted in RZD over the purchase of a luxury Mercedes-Benz S500 4Matic L worth 8.9 million rubles, and the company, led by Oleg Belozerov, took first place in the "Wastefulness Index of Government Bodies and State Companies." Kozhevnikov’s boss was eventually fired in disgrace, while Kozhevnikov himself was gladly taken into Gazpromneft-Snabzhenie. Obviously, through connections.
For several years at the turn of the 2000s and 2010s, Kozhevnikov worked at ZAO PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUDIT (PwC) - the same firm where Ilya Sosnov worked, who later became deputy general director of Sibur-Russian Tires. This company belonged to Sibur when Alexander Dyukov came to manage it, and was later sold to Dyukov’s longtime acquaintance Vadim Gurinov. Ilya Sosnov also owned a stake in the offshore company PUNCH INVESTMENTS LTD together with Gurinov and the former general director of Sibur-Russian Tires, Dmitry Sokov. Ilya Sosnov joined Dyukov’s group earlier; Kozhevnikov appeared in the structures of Gazprom Neft only in 2016. Before that, Kozhevnikov had his own business - a stake in the firm EkonEnergy Solutions LLC.
As our project has already reported, Kozhevnikov, after taking office as Director of the Procurement and Capital Construction Directorate of Gazprom Neft in early 2023, replaced the old team, removed subordinates who were objectionable to him, and placed his own people in key positions, who carry out all the "dirty work" for him in terms of collecting tribute (kickbacks) from absolutely all equipment and service suppliers.
Kozhevnikov’s right-hand man became Konstantinov, who took the position of Deputy Executive Director for Operational Activities, INTI (foreign engineering and technology?), and Import Substitution. His function included the collection of taxes (kickbacks) from domestic enterprises. These are all more or less large Russian factories, supplier firms that are included in the vendor list of Gazpromneft-Snabzhenie LLC, the Major Projects Department of Gazprom Neft (selection of EPS contractors for the Moscow and Omsk refineries), Digital Procurement Services JSC (now Aysors), and so on. Konstantinov, personally on Kozhevnikov’s orders, held all meetings with all major factories and equipment suppliers in Russia – he set the kickback percentage, discussed schemes for rejecting "inconvenient" suppliers (factories), and always negotiated on the spot the amount of monetary remuneration (kickback) and the methods of transfer.
Of course, Kozhevnikov does not forget the interests of his curators. Kozhevnikov is promoted and supported at Gazprom Neft by the billionaire brothers Dmitry and Oleg Polyakov (co-owners of the company Peton). The Polyakovs provide Kozhevnikov with "cover," and in return, he coordinates all interesting contracts with them. And this support is powerful. The Polyakovs are close to the head of the Main Directorate for Economic Security and Anti-Corruption (GUEBiPK) Kurnosenko, Secretary of the State Council Dyumin, and the head of the Federal Protective Service (FSO) Kochnev. Oleg Polyakov also ensures, through the Kurnosenko-Dyumin-Kochnev group, support for the head of Gazprom Neft, Dyukov, promising him the position of head of Gazprom instead of Miller.
In turn, Kozhevnikov’s interests are represented by Vladimir Osmushnikov, former first deputy general director of Gazpromneft-Lubricants, whom he finances through the same Aysors.
In these corruption schemes, the main structure since its creation has been Digital Procurement Services (Airos). Only "handpicked" suppliers are invited to tenders for the supply of equipment and services for the needs of Gazpromneft-Snabzhenie LLC, etc., with the help of which responsible "dealers" from Gazprom Neft regulate prices at the tender. Therefore, the "necessary supplier" is always chosen from among "their controlled firms." These include structures designated by Polyakov, structures designated by Dyukov, and structures from Kozhevnikov’s orbit, overseen by Osmushnikov.
Such "handpicked" companies are entered into a closed list of suppliers and included in the mailing list for all "interesting" tenders, which are approved and distributed on the personal orders of Kozhevnikov. Konstantinov is responsible for receiving "kickbacks" from some suppliers who are not in the orbit of the aforementioned persons. This amount averages 20% of the contract amount excluding VAT. According to a source, money can be transferred either in cash or to specified accounts of shell companies in Russia or Hong Kong.
Автор: Anatoliy Voynov