How does a pro-war businessman end up a ‘foreign agent’? The rise, fall, and resurrection of a Russian shoe magnate.
On February 13, Russia’s Justice Ministry removed Andrey Pavlov, the founder of the shoe retailer Zenden, from its register of “foreign agents.” He’d been added to the list in the summer of 2024 — despite praising Vladimir Putin, backing the war against Ukraine, and being among the first Russian businessmen to invest in occupied Crimea after the 2014 annexation. How did a self-styled patriot with those credentials end up labeled a “foreign agent” — and how did he manage to get himself off the list?
From Big Mac resale to a retail empire
In the 1990s, Andrey Pavlov made money reselling Big Macs at a markup. He would buy them at McDonald’s and then sell them at Moscow’s open-air Luzhniki market for twice the price. Friends he fed burgers to suggested he try selling shoes instead. At first, Pavlov stood behind a market stall himself. Then he hired salespeople, began placing orders with shoe factories, and eventually bought one of his own. That’s how Zenden was born in 1997. Today, it’s one of Russia’s largest footwear retailers, with 280 stores in 125 cities.
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On its website, Zenden says its mission is to develop Russian shoe manufacturing. In reality, about 70 percent of the shoes in its stores are made in China. Pavlov has openly said that producing footwear in Russia isn’t profitable. Beyond China, he has sourced goods from Syria — specifically, from a factory in the city of Latakia, near Russia’s Khmeimim air base.
After Russia occupied Crimea in 2014, Pavlov decided to launch shoe production on the Ukrainian peninsula. In 2016, when many Russian businesses were still wary of Western sanctions, Zenden began building a factory in Yevpatoriya. But the project quickly ran aground amid disputes with local officials and contractors. “Pavlov is one of the most ardent patriots in Russian business, but even he proved unable to overcome Crimea’s bureaucratic realities,” Forbes Russia wrote in 2019.
Pavlov backed the war — but criticized the PM
Pavlov actively cultivated the image of a “patriotic businessman.” He clearly didn’t oppose the seizure of Crimea, funded monuments to soldiers killed in the Second Chechen War, and opened a military-sports training camp for teenagers. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zenden sent humanitarian aid to occupied Donbas. Pavlov posed in a T-shirt emblazoned with the letter Z, now a pro-war symbol in Russia, and spoke about supporting company employees who chose to go to the front. In 2023, he published a book with pro-war symbols in its title.
At the same time, he lashed out at the Federal Tax Service, which had been locked in unresolved disputes with Zenden since 2016, and at its former head, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Pavlov insisted that the “ruinous tax and economic policy” carried out under Mishustin’s leadership was responsible for Russia’s “dire condition.” He also accused Mishustin’s government of failing on demographic policy and allowing “millions of migrants” to enter Russia and “replace the native population.”
Pavlov’s criticism did not extend to Vladimir Putin. “All that remains is to thank Vladimir Vladimirovich for his timely decisions on Crimea and the new territories. This made it possible to prevent Russia’s population from declining and to sustain the spirit and faith in a better future among the country’s true patriots,” Pavlov said in 2024. At the time, Russia’s losses in the war against Ukraine were approaching 100,000 dead.
Branded a ‘foreign agent’
In August 2024, Russia’s Justice Ministry added Andrey Pavlov to its register of “foreign agents.” Reacting to the decision, the businessman said he felt “a sense of pride.”
“For my work, for my analytical articles on the state of the country’s economy and tax legislation,” he said. “It seems I must have really stepped on the tail of someone from the ‘fifth column.’ My dispute with the organized criminal groups within the Federal Tax Service is moving to a new level.”
Two weeks later, several pro-government outlets published nearly identical articles about Pavlov. They described him as a billionaire who “speculates on patriotism” and uses “indiscriminate criticism of the authorities” to settle his problems with tax officials. The pieces revisited his failed factory project in Crimea, his criticism of migration policy, and alleged meetings with officials in Germany and France. They also warned that his “foreign agent” designation could be followed by a criminal case.
The warning proved prophetic. In November 2024, officers from the FSB and the Interior Ministry searched Zenden’s offices in a case involving the sale of unmarked goods. In an interview with the business news outlet RBC published on February 19, 2026, Pavlov said the investigation was still ongoing:
There are a large number of company employees and directors, founders, [listed as defendants]. I’m a witness. But who knows? Today you’re a witness, tomorrow you could be the accused. Well, it just so happened we came under fire. It happens. We’ll resolve the issue calmly with our lawyers.
‘Let’s come to an agreement’
In the same interview, Pavlov suggested that his public statements had led to the “foreign agent” designation. In the current climate, “it’s easy to make a mistake somewhere,” he said. His strategy, he continued, was to find out what the authorities considered mistakes — and correct them.
There’s a department at the Justice Ministry that deals with foreign influence. […] I put the question bluntly: We won’t go to court, we’re simply asking you to tell us what I need to do to have this status removed — what needs to be deleted from the Internet? Somewhere I went too far, I don’t deny it. […] My task is to correct the mistakes and prove that I’m innocent.
To be removed from the register, Pavlov scrubbed his social media accounts — many of his critical posts are no longer accessible — provided the Justice Ministry with documents related to people he had met abroad, and even voluntarily took a polygraph test. According to the businessman, he “very meticulously” complied with all the requirements, and after a year, the ministry removed him from the “foreign agent” list, citing no violations.
Asked how the designation affected his business, Pavlov said Zenden had to close out all its loans, while its revenue and number of stores fell by a third.
Meanwhile, the Federal Tax Service’s claims against Zenden only escalated. Previously, the company had been contesting a demand to pay one billion rubles ($13 million) in back taxes and penalties. After new inspections, authorities reassessed the amount at 29 billion rubles ($377.5 million) — against annual revenue of about 30 billion ($390.5 million). Pavlov called the figure “astronomical,” but said he hoped his lawyers would succeed in reducing it.
If the state needs money in this difficult moment… let’s come to an agreement. I’d gladly contribute a billion rubles to the ‘Defenders of the Fatherland’ fund. I’m not prepared to admit to mistakes that didn’t happen. But to help the state — by all means. Make a proposal, we’ll pay, and we’ll be proud of it.
Pavlov added that he had “become more restrained” in his public statements, and no longer planned to take part in public politics, though he was ready to share his knowledge and experience with the state if needed.
Of course, from now on I’ll do all of this much more calmly and carefully. In a year and a half [as a ‘foreign agent’] I gained very serious experience interacting with the state. So I’ll be extremely cautious. I’ll weigh all my actions and every step very carefully.
