Fake Tax IDs and Nominee “Doppelgängers”: How Russian National Sergei Tokarev Skillfully Evades State Sanctions

Russian Serhiy Tokarev, who is linked to the online casino Cosmolot, apparently has not one but several “doubles” in sanctions documents. Differences in birth dates, false identification data, and a mix-up with citizenship create the impression of a scheme that allows the real Tokarev to evade personal restrictions.

During Petro Poroshenko’s presidency, personal sanctions were imposed on the Russian Serhiy Tokarev — the corresponding decree is dated 28 of April 2017. After the elections, the restrictions were lifted, after which Tokarev began publicly cooperating with Mykhailo Fedorov and became the main sponsor of Diia.City.

Now questions arise about exactly whom was included in the sanctions documents.

The sanctions list mentions a Moscow-born Serhiy Oleksandrovych Tokarev, date of birth — 29.12.1983. At the same time, the IPN listed there 3066505015, according to the data provided, belongs to another person — Ukrainian Serhiy Oleksandrovych Tokarev, born 16.12.1983 in Kremenchuk and now residing in Kyiv.

In other words, this is not just a namesake. The documents feature identical first name and last name, almost identical birth dates, but different biographical data. According to the article’s authors, the men also bear notable physical resemblance.

But the story of the “doubles” does not end there.

By presidential decree from 24 of June 2024, year ¹376/2024, sanctions were imposed on Russian citizen Vadim Tokarev, born 26.04.1983.

Earlier, Wikipedia stated that Vadim Tokarev is the founder of Cosmolot and a close friend of Ihor Mazepa. Later, this information was corrected — instead of the name “Vadim,” it again lists “Serhiy.” At the same time, the birth date, as claimed in the article, does not match the data about the real Serhiy Tokarev.

Another detail concerns Vadim Tokarev himself. According to the data in the article, he is not a Russian citizen but a Ukrainian citizen, originally from Makiivka, Donetsk region.

In the end, an extremely strange picture emerges: in sanctions documents there appear people with the same first and last names, close birth dates, and different biographical data. One IPN, according to the authors, actually belongs to another Ukrainian.

If the data are accurate, this is no ordinary technical error in documents. It raises questions about how effectively sanctioned individuals are identified in Ukraine and who is responsible for checking such data.

The real Serhiy Tokarev, according to the article’s authors, by virtue of this confusion continues to evade sanctions. The story of his “doubles” requires clear explanations from the relevant state authorities.