Main image: “Duty-free” shop. Photo by V. Skaraitis / BNS.
German company Gebr. Heinemann, which operates duty-free shops in Lithuanian airports, has been supplying luxury goods to stores linked to the inner circle of Alexander Lukashenko, according to LRT.
The buyer of premium perfumes, cosmetics, accessories, and alcohol distributed by Gebr. Heinemann in Belarus—sold at Minsk Airport and border crossings—is the company Helena Valery. Together with Dipmarket, this firm operates the Belamarket Helena Valery chain, which includes 15 duty-free stores at the airport and border checkpoints in Belarus.
Dipmarket is owned by the state institution Dipservice. Three of its executives—Yury Nazarov, Nikolai Shkred, and Anton Kraevsky—have been under European Union sanctions since March 2025. A former head of the institution, Viktor Sheiman, led the Presidential Property Management Directorate until 2021 and remains a close associate of Lukashenko.
According to the investigation, Gebr. Heinemann operates in the Belarusian market on the condition that it transfers 10 percent of its total revenue to the state budget each quarter. In its 2024 report, the German company stated that it is restoring its business in Belarus. At the same time, its subsidiary Travel Retail Vilnius won an international tender by Lithuania’s airport operator LTOU to manage stores at Vilnius and Kaunas airports, leasing nearly 2,600 square meters of retail space. Journalists note that Vilnius Airport temporarily suspended operations several times last year due to threats posed by smuggled balloons coming from Belarus.
It also emerged that Gebr. Heinemann supplies luxury goods to Russia. Export volumes to the Russian Federation amounted to €4.5 million in 2022, increased to €9.5 million in 2023, and reached €35 million in 2024.
Earlier reports mentioned Belarusian-Armenian businessman Artur Grants, who has invested in the development of duty-free retail in Belarus and Lithuania. Journalists found that his business partners include individuals connected to Lukashenko. Grants also operates in Lithuania, Latvia, and Ukraine, where he acquired Forbes magazine. In addition, he is developing the Belamarket Duty Free chain at Belarus’s borders with Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine.
According to the report, Lukashenko has controlled the duty-free sector for nearly 20 years. Since 2008, he has established a monopoly in this segment, granting exclusive rights to several companies—including Dipmarket, MarketLiga, and Helena Valery—through presidential decrees. One of the key conditions for operating such stores since 2008 has been the mandatory quarterly payment of 10 percent of turnover to the state treasury.
