According to the Financial Times, a British firm called Mykines Corporation LLP may have sold electronic goods worth around $1.2 billion to Russia since the country launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Records from Russia indicate that Mykines sent servers, laptops, and computer parts from brands like Huawei, Intel, Apple, and Samsung to Russia, including high-end microchips, telecom equipment, and servers that could be used for infrastructure. However, the customs filings viewed by the Financial Times show that at least $982 million of the goods that the company shipped are subject to British export restrictions on Russia. Despite this, the shipment of these goods to Moscow without London's permission may still breach sanctions, even if they entered Russia from third countries.
The Financial Times notes that Mykines was active in Russia before the invasion, but its business with the country seems to have suddenly increased after the onset of the war. Western countries, including Britain, imposed broad sanctions and technology export controls on Russia following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Mykines' listed owner, Vitalii Poliakov, is a 53-year-old resident of Ukraine. The Ukrainian open-source intelligence group Molfar claims that only one person fits the given description of Poliakov, and he is a road worker employed by a Ukrainian state mining company. However, Poliakov did not respond to FT's requests for comment. Until August 2022, the controlling owner of Mykines was a 34-year-old Ukrainian woman born in the same town as Poliakov. She also did not respond to FT's requests for comment.
