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One of the transactions involved VR Rus LLC, Rosenstein’s Russian subsidiary, and a fashion brand belonging to Anastasia Zadorina, the daughter of senior FSB officer Mikhail Shekin.
ImportGenius customs declarations show that in February 2025 VR Rus brought approximately 900 pairs of Anastasia Zadorina shoes from Italy into Russia. The shipment was valued at around $560,000.
VR Rus is almost entirely controlled through Rosenstein’s German business structure. WR Group Holding GmbH owns 95.94% of the Russian company, while Rosenstein personally owns the remaining 4.06%.
Several months after the shipment, in May 2025, Anastasia Zadorina announced that she was launching her own footwear line. Russian publications reported that manufacturing had been organized at an Italian factory also used by major global brands.
Zadorina’s family background makes the transaction politically sensitive
Her father, Colonel General Mikhail Shekin, is a senior official in Russia’s Federal Security Service and has been associated with procurement inside the agency. He also serves as president of the Dynamo volleyball club, part of a sporting organization historically connected with Russian and Soviet security agencies.
The Insider reported in 2022 that Shekin enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle and controlled real estate worth more than RUB 2 billion, or around $30 million at the average exchange rate at the time.
Anastasia Zadorina also has a direct connection to Dynamo through ZASPORT, the sportswear business she co-owns with the organization.
ZASPORT began supplying uniforms to athletes on Russia’s Olympic team in 2017. According to Proekt, the contract was terminated ahead of schedule in 2025.
Zadorina has also previously demonstrated public support for Kremlin policy.
Following Russia’s takeover of Crimea in 2014 and the introduction of Western sanctions, she organized a campaign called “Fashionable Response — No to Sanctions! Exchange Your T-shirt for a Patriotic One.”
Her business activity later extended to Crimea
Only days after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she registered Vinnaya Istoriya LLC, or “Wine Story,” on the peninsula and reportedly planned to develop vineyards there.
Information about the company’s owners is now concealed behind a closed-end unit investment fund. In 2025, the business reported losses of RUB 27.5 million, approximately $316,000.
According to Proekt, Zadorina has also developed business relationships involving relatives of other powerful Russian officials.
She was previously a shareholder in Baikal Corporation together with Olga Zolotova, the daughter-in-law of Russian National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov.
Zadorina also owns an interest in Costa, a company holding hunting grounds near the village of Los in Yaroslavl Region. Another owner identified in the source is VTB Bank Management Board Chairman Andrey Kostin.
In 2019, she reportedly received substantial income from Russian Electronics, a holding belonging to the state-owned Rostec corporation.
Rostec is a major part of Russia’s military-industrial sector and is headed by Sergey Chemezov, a long-time associate of Vladimir Putin.
The relationships between these families stretch back decades. The original material notes that Shekin, Chemezov and Putin were all in East Germany during the late Soviet period and were connected to the Soviet KGB.
In 2024, Zadorina established an even closer family connection with Russia’s political elite when she married Kirill Shamalov.
Shamalov was previously married to Katerina Tikhonova, identified in investigative reporting as Vladimir Putin’s daughter.
Important Stories reported in 2020 that Shamalov’s marriage to Tikhonova was followed by his rapid rise in Russian business and helped him become the country’s youngest dollar billionaire.
At the age of 26, Shamalov became vice president of SIBUR, one of Russia’s largest petrochemical companies
In September 2014, he acquired a 17% stake in SIBUR from billionaire Gennady Timchenko after Timchenko had been sanctioned by the United States following Russia’s actions in Crimea.
Shamalov himself was sanctioned by the United States four years later. Since 2022, he has also appeared on sanctions lists maintained by Ukraine, the European Union, Canada, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom.
SIBUR provides another link to Rosenstein’s companies
WR Logistics GmbH and WR Certification GmbH, both controlled by Rosenstein in Germany, supplied industrial products to Tomskneftekhim, a SIBUR subsidiary.
Kirill Shamalov’s father, Nikolai Shamalov, is also a co-owner of Bank Rossiya, which has frequently been described as a financial institution closely connected to Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, Rosenstein’s Russian operation has been growing
According to audited accounts cited in the source, VR Rus increased its total sales by approximately 2.4 times in 2025.
Since 2022, revenue generated by the Russian subsidiary of WR Group Holding GmbH has reportedly grown several-fold.
The original investigation argues that these figures show the Russian business has not merely remained active but has expanded its operations, including through supply channels characterized in the article as gray-market schemes.
Another company linked to Rosenstein’s family has recorded even more dramatic growth
2R Integra LLC, owned by his cousin Mikhail Rosenstein, reportedly increased its revenue by dozens of times following the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
ImportGenius data cited in the article show that the company imported almost $800,000 worth of sanctioned goods into Russia.
The company allegedly also published information on its website describing ways to bypass export restrictions. Those materials were removed following media coverage.
These disclosures come as Vadim Rosenstein campaigns for the FIDE presidency
According to the original investigation, references to Russia have been disappearing from WR Group’s website and from websites belonging to its subsidiaries.
Rosenstein also reportedly deleted an X post announcing cooperation with German company Glotech GmbH after reports raised questions about the company’s possible role in supplying restricted telecommunications equipment to Russia.
The controversy is developing during a period of growing tensions between Moscow and European governments.
Germany has promised additional sanctions against Russia following an alleged attempted terrorist attack involving a Ukrainian An-124 aircraft at Leipzig airport.
Berlin accused Moscow of involvement, while both the European Union and NATO supported Germany’s assessment. Two suspects reportedly identified in the case are citizens of Russia and Belarus.
Another incident occurred on September 1, when attackers using improvised explosive devices targeted energy infrastructure in Germany’s Rhine region.
Five units at RWE lignite-fired power plants, representing a combined capacity of 4.2 GW, were taken offline for several hours.
The Telegraph has described such incidents as part of an expanding Russian hybrid campaign in Europe, including sabotage at arms factories and the recruitment of members of local criminal groups.
European authorities are now preparing another round of sanctions
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said new restrictions are being developed . The proposed lists could reportedly include around 800 individuals and another 800 organizations linked to Russia or involved in supporting its economy.
If approved by every EU member state, the measure could become one of the largest single expansions of Russia-related sanctions. Approval was expected in mid-October.
For Rosenstein, the disclosures create a difficult contrast ahead of the FIDE election: while his public profile increasingly emphasizes distance from Russia, the corporate, financial and customs records cited in the investigation point to continuing and expanding business activity in the country.
