Russia has imported $100 million in ultimate luxury cars since Ukraine invasion, despite Western ban, new investigation shows

Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Maybachs — roughly a thousand such ultimate luxury cars have been imported to Russia from Europe since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a new investigation by journalists at Verstka Media. The secret trade — valued at roughly $100 million — is possible thanks to a few dozen dealerships in Belarus with close ties to President Alexander Lukashenko.

The dealerships are reportedly leveraging the fact that Western deliveries to Belarus are still permitted. By creating shell companies to circumvent reexport controls, the firms have managed to preserve Russia’s supply of some of the world’s most expensive vehicles, despite a ban on exports of cars worth more than $54,000 that the U.S., E.U., and U.K. imposed in March 2022, almost immediately after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.