What ties owners of Georgian factory to son of senior Russian military intelligence official?
The business partner of the family of Maka Asatiani, owner of Georgia’s first oil refinery, is the son of a senior Russian military intelligence (GRU) official, Reuters reports.
Earlier, it was revealed that the Russian company Russneft had delivered the first shipment of crude oil to the newly launched refinery. According to Reuters, this suggests that Moscow is seeking to expand its export routes while circumventing Western sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.
The agency adds that Asatiani’s son, Kakhi Zhordania, previously owned the Russian oil trading company Oil Energy Group between 2016 and 2023.
Since 2018, Zhordania has held a 25% stake in the Russian transport company SDO-Logistic, which specializes in fuel transportation by road. His partner and majority shareholder in the company (51%) is Sergei Alekseev, the son of Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, the First Deputy Head of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).
Before entering the business world, Sergey Alekseyev worked for the same company, Russneft. In February 2024, his business interests directly intersected with those of his father, who headed Russian military intelligence units in Syria.
In February 2024, Sergey Alekseyev co-founded a small company, Sm-Agro, in Russia’s Rostov region with Syrian national Mohammad Jaber. The firm specialises in fruit cultivation. In Syria, Jaber is known as a smuggler and leader of the pro-Assad, pro-Bashar group “Desert Raiders.”
The group has guarded oil facilities and weapons, and received military equipment from Russia. Jaber has even been photographed posing with a severed human head. He was granted Russian citizenship in 2014.
Georgian oil refinery
