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Ivan Anchevsky, a Russian businessman with Estonian citizenship, was extradited to Tallinn in January after being arrested in Italy. Anchevsky owns and runs large companies — namely Melytec and Melytec Testing, both of which are under U.S. sanctions. The Insider can report that Anchevsky’s firms supply industrial and measuring equipment to the Russian military-industrial complex.
The Estonian Prosecutor's Office suspects Anchevsky of illegal transportation of strategic cargo and violation of Western sanctions aimed at weakening Russia’s war machine. Estonia has initiated criminal proceedings against Anchevsky and is holding him in custody. Kauri Sinkevicius, a spokesperson for the Estonian Prosecutor's Office, said that two Estonian companies and their board members, whose names were not disclosed, are also being investigated as part of the case. Anchevsky is known to have served on the board of one of these firms.
According to commercial court lawsuits examined by The Insider, Melytec, a company with an annual turnover of approximately $32 million, cooperated with Russian defense-related firms Uralvagonzavod Research and Production Corporation JSC (АО научно-производственная корпорация «Уралвагонзавод»), along with the Institute of Reactor Materials JSC (АО «Институт реакторных материалов») — Rosatom's metal research center. In 2024, Melytec Testing sued Perm Motors Proton, a company that manufactures liquid rocket engines, demanding extra payment for previously supplied equipment. All of these companies also fall under U.S. sanctions.
Anchevsky holds both an Estonian and a Russian passport. In 2023, the companies he founded in Russia had a total revenue exceeding $46 million and profits bordering on $4.3 million. His Moscow properties include several apartments and a house in the suburban village of Krasnaya Pakhra with an area of more than 300 square meters. Anchevsky has at least two companies in Russia: Melytec and Melytec Testing, both registered at the same address on Obrucheva Street in the Russian capital.
Melytec's website states that it sells optical and electron microscopes, hardness testers, chemical and phase composition analyzers, industrial tomography, and testing equipment that includes servohydraulic magnetic resonance machines, spectrometers, and x-ray measuring instruments. Most of the seller’s products are manufactured in Europe, Japan, or China.
Melytec describes itself as Russia's “largest supplier of research equipment and services.” Its clients include the Kurchatov Institute, Rostec's Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, Roscosmos' rocket and spacecraft research center TsNIImash, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Severstal, and Evraz.
Also registered to Anchevsky is the Estonian company Melytec Europe OÜ, which is not under sanctions. The company has only one employee — Anchevsky himself — and its turnover for 2024 amounted to a modest 55,000 euros. In 2023, Melytec Europe OÜ sent $108,000 worth of equipment to Russia: mainly reagents and chemical lab equipment, as well as one X-ray detector used in X-ray spectral analysis. In 2023, the recipient was Melytec LLC, and in 2024, it was a Russian individual.
The Russian firm Melytec LLC imported more than $4 million worth of goods from various suppliers in 2023 and more than $1.8 million in 2024. Most of the deliveries were also reagents and lab equipment. Estonia was often indicated as the country of origin in 2023, but in 2024 Melytec shipments came only from outside the EU. Meanwhile, the combined turnover of Melytec and Melytec Testing amounted to $55 million, according to the Russian tax statements. Indirectly, this data may point to the existence of gray import schemes through Eurasian Economic Union countries, particularly Kazakhstan, where Anchevsky resided in 2024. In 2023, Melytec received several material testing machines manufactured by UAE-based Nanolab DMCC, with two of the shipments going through Estonia.
Importantly, Melytec uses intermediary firms, as customs databases show that the company exports only reagents and simple laboratory equipment. In 2023, the company completed several deliveries of material testing machines and drift detectors.
In 2023, Anchevsky visited Russia several times, which is evidenced by his healthcare services records. In 2023 and 2024, he was also a resident of Kazakhstan and sought medical assistance there.