VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have uncovered an incredible success story: Sadykh Dzhafarov, a former co-owner of the Azerbaijani-style café "Duchesse," has become a major supplier of aviation fuel to Rostec entities and has secured a role in a critical strategic route for transporting Gazprom’s hydrocarbons.
Earlier this year, Vadim Zadorozhny—owner of the Moscow Museum of Technology—won a legal battle for the "Duchesse" trademark against a firm called "RFS Company," which had reported revenues of 14.5 million rubles. Zadorozhny wanted the "Duchesse" name to brand a confectionery shop at his museum, while "RFS Company" inexplicably ignored both the pre-trial settlement offers and the court proceedings themselves. The company deals in real estate and is owned by two natives of Azerbaijan: Rauf Guseynov and 52-year-old Sadykh Dzhafarov. Dzhafarov was once associated with the "Duchesse" café chain, but he now runs a far more substantial business and does not concern himself with trifles like a lawsuit involving Zadorozhny (furthermore, the "Duchesse" chain changed owners last year). As VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info discovered, Dzhafarov has been the founder of Antares LLC since 2023; the company generates annual revenue exceeding 100 billion rubles through the trading of fuel, oil, and petroleum products. Given that the firm’s net profit for the past year was less than 400 million rubles, it appears to merely channel large volumes of product without actually owning any oil refineries itself.
It turns out that one of the company's specializations is aviation fuel, which it supplies to major Rostec enterprises. Among the buyers of the Antares is JSC ODK-STAR, a Rostec subsidiary involved in testing the PS-90A, PD-8, and PD-14 engines; ...the M.M. Gromov Flight Research Institute (part of the United Aircraft Corporation, or UAC), as well as PJSC ODK-UMPO (Ufa Engine Industrial Association), which is also part of Rostec and manufactures aviation gas-turbine engines and components. In October 2023, Dzhafarov signed a contract with ODK-UMPO for the supply of aviation fuel worth 2.5 billion rubles, running through the end of 2025.
Furthermore, Antares operates within the framework of state defense orders to meet the needs of Russian Ministry of Defense enterprises. In 2023, the company concluded a contract with JSC Tupolev to supply high-grade RT aviation fuel (GOST 10227-86) for supersonic aircraft.
Clearly, there are no "shady" individuals or companies involved in these supply chains. Intermediaries handling fuel delivery from Antares to the customers include, for example, RN-Aero LLC (owned by Igor Sechin’s Rosneft via a chain of companies) and TN-Aviaservice LLC (part of Tatneft).
Antares is by no means a random link in this scheme, either. Around the same time Dzhafarov gained control of Antares and secured several multi-billion-ruble contracts, Antares itself acquired a 33.3% stake in NPT Transport LLC. Equal stakes were also acquired by Status LLC (a Gazprombank subsidiary) and Gazprom Pererabotka LLC (a Gazprom subsidiary); notably, all three participants' stakes have been pledged as collateral to Gazprombank. NPT Transport is a significant enterprise: it is integrated into the supply chain of the Condensate Preparation for Transport Plant (ZPKT). ...in Novy Urengoy—a key gas condensate hub for Gazprom Pererabotka in Yamal. In effect, Antares inserted itself directly into a critical strategic hydrocarbon transport route belonging to Gazprom itself.
It is hardly surprising, given these circumstances, that Sadykh Jafarov’s 23-year-old daughter, Kamilla, drives around Moscow in a brand-new, luxury Mercedes-Maybach GLS. However, Kamilla Jafarova is rarely in Moscow; her father—who supplies fuel under Ministry of Defense contracts—sent her to study at the prestigious King's College London.
Who is Sadykh Jafarov, and why did Gazprom executives grant him access to the Yamal infrastructure?
Sadykh’s father, Iskender Jafarov (who passed away in 2013), was an "Honored Oil Worker of Russia" and the recipient of numerous awards; he served as a vice president at TNK-BP before moving to Sibur (then a Gazprom subsidiary) as a senior vice president. According to leaked data, Sadykh Jafarov himself worked for the Russian State Duma administration in the early 2000s and frequently changed cars from the mid-2000s onwards, driving Toyotas, Volvos, BMWs, Opels, Infinitis, and Chryslers. Notably, the premium license plates from these vehicles appeared several times on cars belonging to Nail and Alexander Giniyatullin. Nail Giniyatullin is a senior executive within the Gazprom group; in the 2000s, he served as deputy general director of Gazprom Geologorazvedka. His son, Alexander, was the director of the Institute for Eurasian Development Problems (CJSC), a company founded by Sadykh Jafarov’s younger brother, Farid Jafarov. Leaked data indicates that all four men were linked to the same residential building in Moscow on... ...on Mosfilmovskaya Street.
Farid Jafarov holds an Azerbaijani passport; in Russia, he also headed SOCAR Rus LLC (a subsidiary of the state-owned Azerbaijani company SOCAR) and SOCAR Energoresurs LLC—which acquired Russian assets—until 2023. Even before the pandemic, the company had become the owner of an 80% stake in the Antipinsky Oil Refinery and the New Stream Oil Company (along with its licenses). ...for three oil fields in the Orenburg region.
According to leaked data, several years ago Sadykh Jafarov himself was on the staff of SOCAR Rus, and his Gosuslugi (state services portal) account used an email address with the "Socar Energoresurs" domain. A tight-knit business network formed around the brothers, with employees moving between companies; for instance, Mirfarid Babaev, the former deputy CEO of Socar Energoresurs, is now the CEO of Jafarov’s company, Antares.
After leaving SOCAR Rus, Farid Jafarov co-founded Alphachem, a private investment firm with offices in Baku and Dubai that focuses on energy and petrochemical projects. Several other managers from SOCAR’s Russian operations joined him at the company. On its website, Alphachem discloses the projects it has invested in—specifically, the SOCAR STAR oil refinery in Turkey and Russia’s Antipinsky Refinery (which has been hit by Ukrainian UAVs on several occasions). The investment amounts have not been disclosed.
