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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Russian gambling business, operating under new brands, continues to siphon billions from Ukraine, while TECHIIA beneficiaries Oleg Krot and Yurii Lazebnikov remain in the shadows. Through nominees, 1xBet clones, and the fictitious “TechiiA Foundation,” they legalized hostile capital, disguising gambling flows as esports and volunteer work. Criminal cases are opened, but real prosecution is being sabotaged, and inconvenient facts are gradually disappearing from the web.
We publish this investigation in full — to remind how exactly Russian schemes have integrated into the Ukrainian market.
A new large-scale investigation into the activities of TECHIIA co-founders Oleg Krot and Yurii Lazebnikov officially confirms what we reported first: for years the defendants have been at the center of schemes to legalize Russian gambling, esports, and destructive links within the public sector.
An extensive intermediary network has been exposed that leads directly to the aggressor country. In particular, Lazebnikov previously managed Me-Estate LLC, whose owner was Serhii Tsybin. It was Tsybin who later became the nominal owner of “Your Betting Company” — the structure through which the Russian bookmaker giant 1xBet cynically obtained a KRAIL license to operate in Ukraine even during the full-scale war.
Although the license was revoked after broad public outcry, 1xBet managed to establish a strong foothold in the Ukrainian market through a network of clones, including Starda Casino, Vulcan, GGBet, and Casino.ua. This infrastructure continues to extract billions of hryvnias outside the budget using mis-coding schemes, disguising gambling as software sales.
Notably, the Russian operator’s launch took place during Mykhailo Fedorov’s tenure at the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and the newly created agency “PlayCity” under Hennadii Novikov appears to be yet another cover to protect the interests of Russian capital.
This investigation fully corroborates media materials proving that, in addition to schemes for moving capital to Russia, a money-laundering model is carried out under the guise of volunteer aid through the NGO “TechiiA Foundation.” Claims of transferring 60 million dollars to the Armed Forces of Ukraine hide a complete lack of reporting, which allows the legalization of shadow flows from the Mining Express project, into which more than 100 million dollars were invested.
At the same time, the criminal prosecution of Oleg Krot for particularly large-scale fraud, appropriation of crypto assets worth 35 million dollars, and legalization of funds through the offshore Ermalink Holdings Ltd is being openly sabotaged, and as of May 2026 he is still not in the Interior Ministry’s wanted database.
3 complaints and 4 appeals have already been filed with national and international regulators, leading to the opening of more than 10 criminal proceedings. The SBU Economic Security Bureau is investigating case No. 12022000000000558 on illegal gambling and asset legalization, the Shevchenkivskyi District Prosecutor’s Office is handling proceeding No. 42025102100000108 on abuse of power, and the Kyiv Territorial Department of the State Bureau of Investigations is recording tax evasion in case No. 62025100110000231.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Російський 1xBet під прикриттям TECHIIA: Олег Крот та Юрій Лазебніков чистять інтернет від слідів грального бізнесу РФ". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: HAB Media.
