UNIT.City — місце, де люди працюють... КРАЩЕ! Обирай свій простір просто зараз 👉
Наталя ХандусенкоMoney
22 July 2025, 17:07
2025-07-22
Over 50 million euros in the pockets of Russian IT specialists: how a Lithuanian company helps circumvent sanctions
After the EU and the US began to impose sanctions on Russian banks, settlements with companies and residents of the Russian Federation have become extremely complicated. However, two Russians have founded a company in Vilnius that helps to avoid these inconveniences. Businesses operating in the EU or the US can pay salaries to their employees in Russia through a platform registered in Lithuania. The founders of the company do not hide that this helps Russian businesses operate in the global market.
After the EU and the US began to impose sanctions on Russian banks, settlements with companies and residents of the Russian Federation have become extremely complicated. However, two Russians have founded a company in Vilnius that helps to avoid these inconveniences. Businesses operating in the EU or the US can pay salaries to their employees in Russia through a platform registered in Lithuania. The founders of the company do not hide that this helps Russian businesses operate in the global market.
In 2022, after the start of a large-scale war in Ukraine, Lithuania's trade with Russia began to decline. Import figures fell across all categories, both goods and services. However, in 2024, imports of computer services from Russia suddenly increased. From 2.64 million euros in 2023 to over 56 million last year. This amount is almost twice as high even compared to pre-pandemic years.
However, no institution raised the question of what services of IT specialists Lithuanian companies purchase from Russia. When the LRT Research Department became interested in this topic, no institution or experts could say what it could be.
Over time, the LRT Investigation Department found out that most of the 56 million euros was paid by just one company. The EasyStaff platform was created in Vilnius by two Russian citizens. Through it, more than 50 million euros went to the aggressor state.
At the end of 2020, Vitaliy Mikhailov and Evgeny Fedorov, who are Russian citizens with residence permits in Lithuania, founded EasyStaff in Vilnius, which helps companies hire and pay freelancers in different countries. It acts as an intermediary in payments. For example, a company in Cyprus hires an employee in Russia. The salary is transferred to EasyStaff, which pays the Russian IT specialist. That is why official international trade statistics show a significant increase in imports of these services from Russia.
The company itself claims to work with clients from different countries, and its main market is Europe and the USA. However, after analyzing the companies that EasyStaff presents as examples of successful cooperation, it turns out that most of them are managed by Russian citizens, and the employees of the companies are also Russians on LinkedIn.
In his written responses to LRT, Mikhailov denies that most of their clients are Russian companies. “We have several clients from Russia, with whom we started cooperating even before the war. Perhaps you are confusing them with cash flows, because we have many freelance providers in Russia.”
However, EasyStaff is also described as helping Russian-speaking businesses operate in the global market. Here is an interview with Mikhailov, published in 2024 on the company's website, and its title is formulated as follows: "How can Russian-speaking businesses operate abroad?"
In this interview, Mikhailov says that although Russian businesses operate in other countries, they still prefer to hire exclusively Russians or citizens of the CIS countries.
The company's function as an intermediary in settlements is the most questionable. The EU and the US are imposing sanctions on Russian banks, and they have been excluded from the international payment system SWIFT. This makes it difficult to make payments to enterprises and residents in Russia. This is aimed at limiting the ability of Russian businesses to operate in the international market and weakening its economy in order to undermine the country's military machine.
However, intermediaries such as EasyStaff allow such payments. In an interview published on the portal klerk.ru in March 2024, Mikhailov says that only through EasyStaff can a Russian freelancer work with clients in Europe or the USA. First of all, because of the simplicity, because their company will prepare all the necessary documents. In addition, payments can be made through them.
Despite all these facts, Lithuanian institutions claim that they either knew nothing about this company or do not see any threats in its activities.
How a little-known Russian company was able not only to increase production of FPV drones thanks to China, but also to begin localization of the Chinese Autel. Bloomberg Investigation
