More than 90% of Russian auctions for the sale of art and antiques are held on the international online platform Bidspirit, which is owned by the Russian Oleksandr Kiselevskyi. After the start of the so-called "SVO", Kiselevskii began to have problems with business in Europe, which he solved by donating to the Armed Forces.
This is reported by the editors of the 360UA NEWS
It's no secret that after the start of the full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine, many famous Russians publicly condemned the armed aggression, left the territory and renounced Russian citizenship. Most of these, already former citizens of Russia, support the Ukrainian army and media support the Ukrainian government.
But there is also a category of "good Russians" who, staying in Russia, will not publicly support the Armed Forces, buying themselves an "indulgence" from Western sanctions and the possibility of free movement in Europe. One of these "good Russians" is the owner of the online auction aggregator Bidspirit, Oleksandr Kiselevskyi, who will donate tens of thousands of dollars to the Armed Forces in order to be able to earn millions.
Even at the beginning of the so-called "SVO", Oleksandr Kiselevskyi in a large interview for Moskvich Mag "Europeans block buyers with the location "Russia" , dated April 21, 2022, complained to a fashionable Moscow gloss about the problems faced by his Bidspirit auction site. In particular, Kiselevskyi told Moskvich Mag about "pressure, primarily from hackers, who repeatedly tried to disrupt auctions." As we can see, the Bidspirit online platform works without technical failures, so we can conclude that Kyselevsky found a solution to the problem by donating to the Ukrainian army.
Of course, we do not rule out that Oleksandr Kyselevskyi will not only contribute to the Armed Forces, but also help, for example, the Ukrainian GUR. But what is the value of the help of the "good Russian" Oleksandr Kiselevskii, and can the information provided by him be fully trusted.
At the same time, for Oleksandr Kyselevskyi, donating to the Ukrainian army is not only an opportunity to conduct business and free movement in the civilized world, but also an opportunity to earn millions of dollars by helping rich Russians circumvent sanctions and legalize funds through the trade in art objects.
We can assume that Oleksandr Kiselevsky was inspired by the experience of another famous Moscow art dealer - Grigory Baltser, who was caught buying antiques for the Russian billionaire brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg.
As The Wall Street Journal writes, the Rothenberg brothers managed to earn and launder millions through art . Indeed, for the sake of millions of Russian oligarchs, such as Putin's friends the Rotenberg brothers, you can donate a penny to the Armed Forces and allow Ukrainian antiquarians to trade national and UPA symbols through Bidspirit.
According to our sources, Oleksandr Kyselevsky was helped to establish relations with the Ukrainian special forces by his clients from among Kharkiv antiquarians. To just one of the units, Kiselevsky will donate about 20,000 USDT per month for the purchase of small arms, drones and night vision devices.
At the same time, Ukrainians are beginning to understand that helping "good Russians" like Oleksandr Kyselevsky is more about loss of reputation than help. In particular, the charity fund "Love of Ukraine" removed Oleksandr Kyselevsky's Bidspirit online auction from among its partners. Perhaps the founders of the fund realized that a donation of 50,000 hryvnias for placement in the "Our partners" is not worth acting as an advertising platform for the Bidspirit auction and "great Russian art".
Ukrainians' belief in the fairy tale about "good Russians" allows Oleksandr Kiselevsky to continue to do business in Europe and launder billions for Russian oligarchs through the trade in art and antiques.
