VZCZCXRO4274
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHSK #0811 2641119
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 211119Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6511
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1677
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 000811 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2017 
TAGS: KTFN EFIN PREL PINR BO MT
SUBJECT: LUKASHENKO'S ARMS DEALER BACK FROM MALTA? 
 
REF: MINSK 696 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Karen Stewart for reason 1.4 (d). 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) A Minsk businessman claims suspected Belarusian arms 
dealer Vladimir Peftiyev just returned to Minsk permanently 
after several years residing in Malta.  The move, if true, 
suggests Lukashenko may have transferred ill-gotten assets 
elsewhere.  End summary. 
 
Major Weapons Trader Returns to Minsk? 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Minsk businessman Mark Lvovich Chernyak told Acting 
Pol/Econ Chief on September 18 and 19 that Vladimir Pavlovich 
Peftiyev, the ex-husband of one of his employees, serves as 
an important moneyman for Lukashenko.  (Note: Peftiyev headed 
the company Beltekheksport in the 1990s, supposedly reporting 
directly to Security Council Chief Viktor Sheyman.  At the 
beginning of Lukashenko's reign, newspapers implicated 
Peftiyev in illicit weapons deals.  End note.) 
 
¶3. (C) Peftiyev, who Chernyak said is about 45 years old, 
resided in Malta for five to seven years and may have 
obtained dual citizenship.  Once or twice a year Peftiyev 
would fly back to Minsk, where government security would meet 
him at the airport and escort him directly to the President's 
residence.  According to Chernyak, even Peftiyev's children 
merit protection by government security. 
 
¶4. (C) Chernyak said recently Peftiyev returned to Minsk 
permanently, enrolling his young children who don't speak 
Russian into a local daycare.  His previous visit to Minsk 
was in February or March.  Chernyak suggested Peftiyev's 
homecoming meant Lukashenko no longer maintained business 
dealings or bank accounts in Malta. 
 
Comment: Money Coming Home, or Going Elsewhere? 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5. (C) While Chernyak mused that the alleged Maltese money 
might now be salted away in Venezuela, no one knows the true 
source of money paid to privatize Veltelcom or smaller firms 
(reftel).  If illicit Lukashenko-controlled funds really did 
leave Malta recently, they just as easily could have been 
repatriated to Belarus. 
 
Comment Cont'd: Hell Hath no Fury Like a Merchant Scorned 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶6. (C) Chernyak said he wanted to help because Lukashenko and 
his cronies were ruining the country both politically and 
economically.  He also said the Presidential Administration 
forced him to hand over prime real estate in 2001.  Despite 
this run-in with authorities, Chernyak still employs over 
1,000 persons, but he could not help but explain that the de 
facto GOB seizure of his property deprived him of millions of 
dollars in rents every year.  His anger rose when he 
mentioned that from his office in the Panorama building he 
can see Lukashenko's motorcade going to work at 9:00, and 
leaving for the hockey arena to call it a day as early at 
3:00.  While Lukashenko used to play hockey once a week, 
Chernyak says -- and others in Minsk have observed -- that 
the motorcade now visits the arena every workday. 
Stewart