Report: Abramovich tied to Russian payment platform created to evade sanctions, serving drone makers
Russian billionaires Roman Abramovich and Viktor Kharitonin may be tied to A7, a payment platform created in 2024 to help Russia move money across borders in defiance of Western sanctions — and which has itself been placed under sanctions. That is the finding of an investigation by the independent Russian investigative outlet Proekt, whose sources describe A7 as the dominant player in the cross-border payments market.
On paper, the company is owned by fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor and the Russian state bank PSB, formerly known as Promsvyazbank. The Russian state development corporation VEB.RF, headed by Igor Shuvalov, also provides “support” for the project.
Citing leaked financial documents and its own source, Proekt reports that after A7 was created in 2024, the company operated out of offices in Abramovich’s business centers Belye Sady and Skolkovo Park. Its legal entities were later re-registered to a fictitious address in Gelendzhik, but two A7 subsidiaries remain in Abramovich’s offices, the journalists found. The outlet also turned up evidence in the leaked documents of financial backing from billionaire Viktor Kharitonin — a longtime acquaintance of Abramovich, his former business partner and “protégé.” Companies within Kharitonin’s pharmaceutical holding Pharmstandard issued multi-billion-ruble loans to A7, according to the investigation.
A Proekt source in the cross-border payments market calls Abramovich the “roof and sponsor” of A7 and says the businessman chose Shor to head the company for his ability to “build schemes.” Abramovich’s representative denies it. “Roman Abramovich has no connection to company A7, is not its beneficiary, and does not hold any stake in it. The suggestions that Roman Abramovich participated in or facilitated any arrangements with Promsvyazbank in connection with A7 do not correspond to reality,” the representative said.
Among A7‘s clients are at least 25 Russian companies sanctioned by the European Union and the United States. Five of them — Aidi Solution, Rustakt, Transport Budushchego, Bespilotnyye Sistemy, and Legion Komplekt — manufacture and supply combat drones used by the Russian army in the war with Ukraine. Those companies transferred hundreds of millions to billions of rubles through A7, according to Proekt.
A7 also serves Russian companies in the consumer, financial, tourism, and oil-and-gas sectors. Its clients include Wildberries, tour operator Biblio-Globus, S7-Engineering, the Sunlight retail chain, and others, the investigation found.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.
Who imposed sanctions against A7?
The European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Ukraine
What is he known for?
In 2014, one billion dollars was stolen from three Moldovan banks — Banca de Economii, Unibank, and Banca Socială. The investigation established that the fraud was organized by Ilan Shor, at the time chairman of the board of Banca de Economii (which had ties to the Russian state bank Sberbank and was liquidated in 2015). In 2019, Shor, convicted in Moldova in connection with the theft of one billion dollars, fled house arrest and then left for Russia, where in 2024 he received citizenship.