Oligarch Close To Lukashenka Bought ‘Golden’ Passport Of Vanuatu

• 4.03.2025, 15:23

Back in 2022.

Businessman Aliaksei Aleksin bought a “golden” passport of Vanuatu. Lukashenka's “moneybag” could have spent about 390 thousand dollars on documents for himself and his relatives. Most likely, the passports were purchased to circumvent sanctions.

Investigative journalists from the “Bureau” learned that tobacco magnate Aliaksei Aleksin and his youngest son Vital received “golden” passports of Vanuatu back in 2022, together with his newly-made wife Nadzeya (née Zaitsava).

The Republic of Vanuatu is located on 83 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is famous for its affordable citizenship and offshore services. The archipelago specializes in selling so-called “golden” passports, which cost $130,000. Such a passport is issued in record time — from 1 to 4 months. The document allows visa-free travel to 130 countries, including the European Union.

But the Aleksins, as it turns out, will never be able to take advantage of all the bonuses of Vanuatu passports. Just in 2022, the Council of Europe suspended the visa-free regime for “citizens of Vanuatu”. The reason was precisely the dubious and easily accessible schemes for acquiring a passport. In December 2024, the EU finally canceled the visa-free regime with Vanuatu.

When asked by the Bureau about Vanuatu passports, Aliaksei Aleksin said that he did not hear anything about it, and did not pick up the phone ever again. His son Vital said that he did not know about the Vanuatu passport: “I only have a Belarusian passport, a blue one.” After that, he cut off the conversation.