Swiss Harvest Group, Russian grain exports, and a Rotenberg-linked drone manufacturer: Inside Almaz Alsenov’s business network
According to investigations by media, Kazakh millionaire and adviser to the head of the International Judo Federation, Almaz Alsenov, developed business ties with Russia through a subsidiary of his Swiss company. His business partner in Russia turned out to be a member of Arkady Rotenberg’s circle, involved in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles for the Russian armed forces.
Alsenov originates from Karaganda, born into a family of a PhD and Doctor of Technical Sciences. A multiple-time champion of Kazakhstan in judo and a medalist at the Asian Championships, he was selected for the country’s Olympic team. However, in 2004, after suffering serious injuries, he left professional sports.
He began engaging in business while studying at the Eurasian Humanities Institute and founded his first company, HouseMakers Group LLP, based on a family business, Karaganda Engineering LLP. The company earned money from collecting and selling scrap metal, with major shipments sent to China. According to Alsenov, this was where he earned his first million dollars. However, official Kazakh tax records suggest otherwise: over nearly 20 years, the company paid only 450,000 tenge in taxes, less than $1,000 at the current exchange rate.
In the early 2000s, Alsenov sold the business and moved to Moscow, where he acted as an intermediary in meat supplies to the Cherkizovo processing plant, later expanding into the meat business in Kazakhstan. Around 2009, he became head of marketing at the Asian Judo Union, reportedly through the support of federation leaders, including Beket Makhmutov. This position helped him establish useful connections and eventually relocate abroad. According to acquaintances, he left Kazakhstan without significant capital, raising questions about the origins of his startup funds in the UAE and Switzerland.
Today, Alsenov is the founder of Harvest Group, a Switzerland-based company specializing in the international distribution of agricultural commodities. The group provides maritime and inland logistics, storage, loading, and processing services.
In 2024, Harvest Group entered African markets, investing $12 million in Kenya, including the development of a distribution center at the Port of Mombasa — a key gateway for Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Congo. This expansion coincided with a sharp rise in Russian grain exports to Kenya, which reached 2.1 million tons worth over $474 million in 2024, compared to just 386,400 tons in 2021.
Harvest Group also opened offices in Serbia, Poland, and Kazakhstan. In Kazakhstan, Alsenov signed an agreement with the state-owned NC Kazakh Invest to invest approximately $500 million in creating 300,000 hectares of irrigated farmland for corn and soybean cultivation. Earlier, Harvest acquired a grain elevator in the Akzhar district, pledging $15 million for its reconstruction.
Agribusiness is not Alsenov’s only area of interest. His now-liquidated company Harvest Commodities SA was involved in trading Russian oil alongside later-sanctioned oil trader Nils Troost.
Between May 2022 and January 2024, Harvest Group purchased over 60 shipments of Russian grain, primarily from Demetra Trading and Grain Gates. Until mid-2023, Demetra’s shareholders included sanctioned VTB Bank and billionaire Alexander Vinokurov, son-in-law of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. After 2022, Grain Gates emerged, staffed by former Demetra executives. Russian grain exports were also handled by ME Harvest Trading FZE in the UAE.
Conservatively estimated, Alsenov’s companies exported around 3 million tons of Russian grain, shipped through ports including Novorossiysk, Astrakhan, and Taman. Whether this business continued into 2026 remains unclear, though shipping data indicates that a vessel linked to Harvest Group, Harvest Legacy, departed Turkey in early February and was expected to arrive in Novorossiysk.
In Russia, Alsenov’s business partner until recently was a former judoka who heads a company within the Rotenberg business empire, engaged in drone development for the Russian military.
Back in 2016, Alsenov registered a Russian subsidiary, Harvest Group SA — LLC “Harvest Group”, which traded grain, tobacco, and animal feed. The firm employed no more than five people and recorded its highest profit in 2020 — just 1.4 million rubles.
Notably, overlapping personnel appeared between Alsenov’s businesses and the European Judo Union. Former CEO Roman Yegorov used an EJU email address, and a judoka with the same name appears in Russian competition records from the same era as Alsenov. Yegorov also founded companies Inkont, Techkon, and led Flycon LLC. Flycon’s core activity is the production of aircraft and equipment, including drones for the Russian military.
Flycon is ultimately owned by Natsproektstroy Group, a major infrastructure contractor involving Arkady Rotenberg and VEB.RF. Likely due to sanctions risks, Yegorov exited Harvest Group, and in September 2025, the Russian subsidiary was liquidated.
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