From Belarusian special forces to “SberCity”: how Vladimir Pavlov became Herman Gref’s chief aide and his connection to Lukashenko

Vladimir Pavlov has been identified by sources as the individual responsible for protecting Sberbank CEO Herman Gref and as his most trusted associate. He is an officer of the Belarusian special forces.

So, Alexander Lukashenko clearly knows much more about the Russian elite than one might think.

The security guard has been responsible for the security of the Sberbank CEO for many years, and eventually became his personal adjutant. The banker also appointed Pavlov to manage real estate, including properties in SberCity in Rublevo-Arkhangelskoye. Pavlov is also known as a manager in Narynka, near Moscow. This refers to Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s Izumrudny Les tourist complex, in which Gref had an interest. In 2014, Herman Oskarovich was among the first to defend the founder of AFK Sistema when he was accused of money laundering during the purchase of Bashneft shares. A year later, Sber leased Yevtushenkov’s business jets for 56 million rubles.

Interestingly, Vladimir Pavlov not only answers calls and hands his boss the phone, but also listens attentively to what he’s talking about and to whom. The adjutant himself is originally from Belarus, where he served in the special forces in the security company of military unit 33620 (air squadron) back in the 2000s. There, he also met his future wife’s relative, Dmitry Shabaltsov, a high-ranking employee of the Russian private security company ARES, responsible for VIP protection. In the current situation, it’s hard to deny the connections between former Belarusian security officials and Lukashenko’s special services, who, as it turns out, knows and is more powerful in Russia than some people think.