“Ally” of Kadyrov and financier of the Russian military-industrial complex: Kazakh billionaire Kenes Rakishev tries to divest his assets in Ukraine

As industry media report, Kazakh billionaire with a very controversial biography Kenes Rakishev is selling "BTA Bank Ukraine." This is Rakishev’s fifth attempt to dispose of his largest Ukrainian asset, and it appears this time it will succeed — the buyer is the Nova group, associated with Nova Poshta founders Vyacheslav Klymov and Volodymyr Popereshtniuk.

There are many questions around this deal. Not only because it took Kenes Rakishev five attempts to find a buyer for his Ukrainian asset. That fact alone confirms the unspoken view of "BTA Bank" as an extremely toxic asset. And Rakishev himself has a very specific biography, both personally and in business.

Who is Kenes Rakishev

Kazakh businessman Kenes Rakishev is first and foremost known as a personal friend of Ramzan Kadyrov, who awarded him the “Akhmat Kadyrov Order,” and Kadyrov himself calls Kenes “his dear brother.”

But Rakishev’s ties to Ramzan Kadyrov personally and to the Russian authorities, business, and security services do not end there. At the start of the full-scale war, when sanctions began to fall on Russia, Rakishev was one of those who organized the mass relocation of Russian business to Kazakhstan — already in the spring of 2022 a scandal erupted related to a scheme for legalizing Russian capital: as media reported, Rakishev was one of the key organizers of a scheme issuing residence permits for supposedly “refugees” from the Russian Federation. Those documents were obtained either by people connected to Rakishev or by persons owning large assets in Russia, enabling the latter to move capital out of reach of sanctions.

But that is not all — companies owned by Kenes Rakishev produce armored vehicles that were actively used by fighters of his “dear friend and brother” Ramzan Kadyrov in Ukraine: these are the Arlan armored cars, spotted in columns of “Akhmat.” In addition, Rakishev is linked to projects around Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, where he is listed as one of the beneficiaries of strategies to circumvent international sanctions.

Kenes Rakishev is involved in the production of drones used to bomb Ukrainian cities — through the Fastlane fund the businessman invested in Russian projects related to artificial intelligence and the internet. Among them is Cognitive Technologies, which develops unmanned systems and whose investors include Sberbank.

Regarding his Russian business, after the start of the Russia–Ukraine war Kenes Rakishev urgently transferred most of it to front people, one of whom is his longtime partner Anvar Mametov.

This fact is confirmed by checks of Russian registries, where Anvar Mametov began appearing as the owner of dozens of various enterprises that until recently belonged to Kenes Rakishev.

Rakishev also has business in Kazakhstan. It was in that country that he became an oligarch and later moved part of his interests to Russia. But in this case we are interested in Ukraine, where Kenes Rakishev had several assets.

Rakishev’s Ukrainian business

Among them is the aforementioned "BTA Bank," which in turn holds corporate rights in JSC "FC Borysfen" and JSC "Modus." Although in the latter Rakishev’s share is tiny — only 0,58%. "BTA Bank" ranks 59-th out of 59 in the NBU ranking, its assets are valued at 212 million hryvnias, liabilities at 125 million. But perhaps the most accurate characterization of the bank comes from a comment on the Ministry of Finance site: “Interesting — how does this bank even survive?”.

Kenes Rakishev has another Ukrainian asset — Innoving LLC, but that company’s situation is even worse than the bank’s — the company’s profitability is minus 84 348,55%. No comment, as they say.

And here we have to return to Russia — we did not focus on Rakishev’s ties to Russian business and Ramzan Kadyrov for nothing. It’s also worth adding that Rakishev owns a Russian “daughter” of BTA Bank. That entity deserves no less detailed attention.

Russian “BTA Bank”

According to open data, Rakishev’s Russian business was focused mainly on managing problem assets and real estate rather than ordinary retail banking. LLC "BTA Moscow" (later renamed "Prime Progress"): a publication on Rakishev’s Russian assets noted that the company reported losses of tens of millions of rubles for years. In 2024 its sale was reflected in the consolidated financial statements of Fincraft Group.

The Russian subsidiary of "BTA Bank" also owned the Cosmos hotel complex in Moscow, which the bank held through Batial and Kronos companies. According to media publications, in 2024 these companies were sold. The buyer was named as Galimzhan Aynabayev — a business partner whose family previously appeared among affiliated persons of the group.

Rakishev also owned TuranAlem Finance in Russia, a Russian subsidiary of BTA Bank, which in recent years also operated at a loss and was declared bankrupt in June 2025.

The former BTA portfolio included logistics complexes in Yekaterinburg, Saint Petersburg, and Novosibirsk totaling about 400 thousand m², commercial real estate projects in Moscow including sites near Paveletsky station and on Poklonnaya Hill. Rakishev himself described these assets in an interview with Kommersant in 2018. What happened to these assets now is unknown.

From this brief summary the simple conclusion follows: Russian BTA was for Rakishev primarily an instrument for the return, restructuring, and subsequent disposal of problematic assets. In 2024 the group reportedly sold several key Russian companies, including structures with shares in the Cosmos hotel. But at the same time there are statements that Rakishev retained effective control over the sold assets through nominal owners.

What raises questions

Against this backdrop the activities of "BTA Bank Ukraine" and Innoving LLC cannot but raise questions, as they hardly look like profit-generating assets. Yet Kenes Rakishev didn’t just hold them for many years — he invested substantial funds into them: the charter capital of "BTA Bank Ukraine" is one and a half billion hryvnias, and Innoving LLC’s charter capital is not just 166 827 900 hryvnias, that capital was regularly increased, the most recent increase dated August 2026 when more than 40 million hryvnias were injected into the company. At the same time the company has been loss-making since its founding, yet the capital kept growing.

This raises questions. Also bear in mind that Kenes Rakishev sold his Ukrainian asset only on the fifth attempt. Why did previous buyers — among them Belarusian businessman Mykola Vorobei, Kazakhstan’s Kaspi.kz, Georgian entrepreneur Rati Tchelidze, and in 2025 Ukrainian businessmen Vyacheslav Mishalov and Dmytro Shevchuk — ultimately back out of the deal? There is no answer to that question.

Now the buyer is a group that controls one of Ukraine’s largest logistics and payments businesses. For Nova, acquiring the bank could be a way to expand the financial infrastructure around NovaPay. In June 2026 the possibility was discussed of creating a financial institution based on "BTA Bank" oriented toward financial inclusion.

But why did the asset have to be offered to multiple potential buyers, and what exactly changed by the fall of 2026 to finally make the deal happen? Public documents that would allow a definitive answer to these questions are still insufficient.

Nor are there answers to other questions arising in light of the nearly completed deal. Who exactly is selling the shares and which persons will take part in the payments? What is the deal price and does it correspond to the value of the acquired asset? Do the seller or related companies have obligations to Russian legal entities that could matter for assessing sanctions risks?

It is also necessary to verify what information about ultimate beneficiaries and sources of funds was presented as part of the deal’s approval. Publications about ties to Russian business and Ramzan Kadyrov, Rakishev’s interests in the Russian defense industry, and participation in sanctions circumvention schemes did not arise out of nowhere. Therefore it is logical to assume that BTA Bank’s activity in Ukraine may have had a purpose different from the one declared, and its sale could be a way to move money to Russia, circumvent sanctions, or hide assets. Neither the deal price nor the proceeds’ route have been disclosed.

Exit from Ukraine is not the end of the story

Kenes Rakishev has been trying to sell the Ukrainian bank for years. Now the potential buyer is the Nova group, for whom a banking license may represent strategic value. For the seller the deal will likely be another step in reducing banking assets outside Kazakhstan.

But the Ukrainian asset belongs to a businessman whose relationship with Ramzan Kadyrov is confirmed by public statements, awards, and investigations into funding projects in Chechnya. His Russian business interests are also described in journalistic materials. So the main intrigue of this story is not that Rakishev is acquainted with Kadyrov. Nor is it even that he is selling a small Ukrainian bank. The question is what the seller will retain after the deal and where the money from the Ukrainian asset will go.

The question Ukrainian regulators and the seller himself will have to answer: who will ultimately receive the proceeds from the sale of "BTA Bank Ukraine" and what business ties of Rakishev will remain outside this deal?