Russian hosting provider «Beget» is within top three hosting companies of the Russian Federation. It launched its work in Ukraine in 2012 by registering the company with the same name in Kyiv. Then, Russian founders from Sanct Petersburg left the Ukrainian company but the Center of Journalistic Investigations uncovered signs that they are still connected.
Since 2014, Russian «Beget» has delivered services to Russian illegal authorities, militarized organizations and propagandist projects in Crimea, Donbas and Zaporizhzhia region, occupied by the Russian Federation. The company has not been sanctioned by Ukraine or Western countries.
Russian LLC «Beget» (brand name is Beget) is hosting provider and authorized registrar of domain names founded in 2007 in Sanct Petersburg. Ukrainian company with the same name «Beget» was founded in August 2012 in Kyiv. It called itself representative office of the Russian company (see its archived website).
Iljin Aleksandr Yuryevich and Manikin Aleksei Yuryevich have been co-founders of Kyiv «Beget». Each of them has owned 46,5% of the statutory capital of Russian LLC «Beget» since its launch until now.
Aleksandr Iljin, Aleksei Manikin, beneficiaries of Russian LLC «Beget». Photo: vuspeh.ru, Facebook
Russian co-founders appointed Goloborodko Vladyslav Oleksandrovych as the director of Kyiv company. In 2018, the ownership structure of the company drastically changed. Russian shares were transferred to Kyiv director and Ukrainian company was called «Beget Ukraine».
Vladyslav Goloborodko is the owner, director and bookkeeper of LLC «Beget Ukraine». Goloborodko told our journalists in an interview that he bought the company because it has been profitable. When we asked about distribution of profits, he answered that «the profit was distributed in simple way. I received profit from Ukrainian clients. Russian company «Beget» has delivered services in Russia, Kazakhstan, Germany and other countries. Roughly speaking, «Beget Ukraine» has delivered services only for Ukrainian citizens».
According to analytical system YouControl, LLC «Beget Ukraine» has demonstrated successful financial results. In 2020, its net profit reached 6,3 million UAH. In 2021 and 2022, the net profit of hosting company reached almost the same results. It showed losses only in 2023.
Vladyslav Goloborodko, director and beneficiary of LLC «Beget Ukraine»
Vladyslav Goloborodko says that Ukrainian and Russian «Beget» do not have connections anymore. Our findings demonstrate different situation. Let us look first at «Beget» in Sankt Petersburg.
Russian «Beget» in Sankt Petersburg
Russian company «Beget» is undoubtedly very successful and profitable company. It delivers its services to 200 thousand clients. As of January 2024, «Beget» is the leader among Russian hosting providers by the number of domains. The company holds largest market shares in zones .RU, .РФ and .SU. It is the third largest domain registrar in Russia.
In Russia, IT market has been closely supervised by governmental authorities and intelligence services. «Beget» is an obedient company. It has blocked websites and webpages automatically and quickly, upon requirements of the Russian Federal Service for Supervisionn of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media. Number of websites, blocked by «Beget», has steadily grown since the Russian full scale invasion into Ukraine. Roskomsvoboda channel, managed by the Center for protection of media rights, mentions 12 cases when «Beget» blocked or even deleted websites with publications criticizing Russian government or «negatively» covering Russian «special military operation».
Most prominent cases include blockade \ deletion of website of Sankt Petersburg office of Russian opposition «Novaya gazeta» and digital project of its journalists «Prodolzhenie sleduet; platform of blogger Lev Vladov (aka «Chelyabinski urbanist»); website of Altai office of Russian political party «Yabloko» and an article of the Center for protection of media rights.
We paid special attention to the activity of Russian LLC «Beget» on Ukrainian territories, occupied by the Russian Federation. We found out that its clients included Russian illegal authorities, propagandist media projects and organizations directly supporting Russian invasion into Ukraine.
It should be emphasized that Russian «Beget» has serviced these bodies and organizations when its owners have been de jure co-founders of Ukrainian «Beget».
Ukrainian governmental security and intelligence bodies did not focus on «Beget» even when its owners Aleksei Manikin and Aleksandr Iljin were included into the database «Myrotvorets» in 2016 – «for delivering its resources to terrorist organization «DNR» [Donetsk People’s Republic].
Authors of «Myrotvorets» published communication between technical manager Aleksandr Klukov (now he is general director of the company) and Sergii Kandelaki, manager of IT unit of Russian occupation «Ministry of Information of DNR». The communication provided evidence that «Beget» registered domains of «official website of DNR» and websites of occupation «government», «ministries» and propagandist media in zones .RU and .SU.
In 2015, Sergii Kandelaki asked Klukov to transfer «overloaded official sites of DNR» – dnr-online.ru and gazeta-dnr.ru (web portal of occupation mass media) – to dedicated server of LLC «Beget».
Communication between Sergii Kandelaki and Aleksandr Krukov about services of LLC «Beget», 2015. Photo: myrotvorets.center
Web portal днронлайн.рф has been the official website of the government of DNR since 2022. Its subdomains have hosted «ministries of DNR», including «ministries of internal affairs» and «internal security», «People’s Council of DNR», occupation courts, prosecutors and local administrations. Domain has been registered and hosted by Sankt Petersburg «Beget». Its servers have hosted all «state» web-resources of illegal authorities of Donetsk region, occupied by the Russian Federation.
Other Russian hosting provider Reg.ru (LLC «Registrator domennykh imen Reg.ru») delivers similar services to Russina occupation authorities in Luhansk region. «Beget» has been its partner there. Then, it launched its own registration services. As an outcome, Reg.ru suspended agreement with «Beget» and took joint clients. However, «Beget» keeps delivering its services to Russian occupation authorities in Luhansk region.
Another client of «Beget» is an office of Russian «DOSAAF» («Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation and Navy») in occupied Sevastopol. It trains specialists and soldiers for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. According to the data of Whois service, «Beget» registered domain of Sevastopol office in July 2021. The website has been hosted by servers of «Beget».
Data of Whois about domain of Sevastopol office of Russian «DOSAAF», March 2024, photo: whois.com
We disclosed an activity of Sevastopol office to militarize children in occupied Crimea in our investigation «Courses of killers for adults and teenagers».
As we reported, «Maritime innovation center», set up on basis of DOSAAF», won the competition of the Fund of presidential grants of the Russian Federation to implement project called «Young drone operator».
Sevastopol office had to train over 400 drone operators, aged between 11 and 16, during five months (total value of the project – six million Rubles). Project covered Sevastopol and other Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia (Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk regions).
Students of «cadet class of air defense» at the training of attack drone operators in Sevastopol. Photo: social media
After our interview with Vladyslav Goloborodko, access to the website of Sevastopol office of DOSAAF has been suddenly blocked by provider «Beget» at the end of March. Web-portal of «DOSAAF of Russia» still posts its web address https://sevastopol-dosaaf.ru/.
Another example is related to the first days of the Russian full scale invasion into Ukraine. Russian occupants launched telegram channel and web site with name «Yuzhny platzdarm» [Southern bridgehead] and channel «Yuginformbureau». This media holding disseminated Russian propagandist narratives, fake news about Russian invasion or statements of heads of Russian occupation administrations.
Archived web page of site «Southern bridgehead» created by the Russian Federation in Melitopol to disseminate Russian propaganda, 29.03. 2022. Photo: web.archive.org
As Russian BBC service reported, website «Southern bridgehead» has been hosted by servers of Russian hosting provider from Sankt Petersburg. Then, it moved to American Cloudflare, hiding real owners».
It should be clarified that website of Russian propagandists could still be hosted by Russan «Beget». American Cloudfare could serve as an «intermediary» between real hosting company and the world…
Are Ukrainian and Russian «Beget» still connected?
Let us begin our analysis from the most obvious signs.
First of all, Ukrainian and Russian companies display the same logo «Beget». Ukrainian version has letter «g» colored by colors of the Ukrainian flag. Design of websites of both companies is similar. It can be explained by arguments of common history.
There are more arguments and signs.
Footer and webpage with contacts of website of Russian company «Beget» indicate contact phone numbers in Russia (Moscow, Sankt Petersburg), Kazakhstan and two numbers in Ukraine: 0 (800) 802-192 and +380 (44) 300-02-18.
Webpage of contacts of Russian LLC «Beget», March 2024. Screenshot of beget.com
Website of «Beget Ukraine» indicates the same phone numbers.
Contacts of LLC «Beget Ukraine», March 2024. Screenshot beget.com.ua
Footer of website «Beget Ukraine» says that «LLC «Beget Ukraine» is the partner of registrar of domain names LLC «Beget». Next sentence has been reworded after our interview with Vladyslav Goloborodko (we keep the screenshot of its initial version). The initial version said: «Some actions with domain names in zones .RU and .РФ are made in accordance with Rules of loading domain names in domain .RU and .РФ». Then, «zones .RU and .РФ» were omitted and replaced with zones of coordinator cctld.ru». Active web reference leads directly to website of «Coordination center of domains .RU and .РФ», created by the Russian Ministry of Mass Communications in 2015.
If you click buttons of social media acconts in X, VKontakte and github on website of «Beget Ukraine», you land on pages of Russian «Beget», created in previous years when brand name was written as BeGet.
Let us look at documents posted on the website of the Ukrainian company. Its public offer has been introduced by Vladyslav Goloborodko in February 2023. It says that LLC «Beget Ukraine» registers domain names in international zones in partnership with three partners. Two partners are from Russia: JSC «Regional network information center» (RU-CENTER) and its «daughter» LLC «Registrar P01».
Public offer contract, introduced by V.Goloborodko in February 2023. Photo: beget.com.ua
Russian «Beget» has the same partners: RU-CENTER, R01, PublicDomainRegistry.
Why has «Beget Ukraine» kept working through Russian registrars of domain names in international zones? First, Mr. Goloborodko refered to «bad memory», then he said that he had to implement previously signed agreements. Finally, he admitted that it might have been technical mistake.
His word-by-word answer is as follows:
«First of all, I need to recall those contracts, I do not remember…»
«Look, I sign many papers, I do not remember. Roughly speaking, if they are indicated, then, we had certain agreements, concluded earlier… in accordance with them, we have to make references in certain places…»
«You know, if it is as you say, then, I will examine it… I have to check it. It might have been technical mistake which does not put obligations on us…»
We do not have doubts that Mr Goloborodko visited the website of his company and read his public offer. After that, the initial text of the public offer has not been changed. We assume that Goloborodko is not able to change anything in the text. Either cooperation with Russian companies continues or he is not empowered to make changes.
It has been complicated task for us to find out the location of servers of «Beget Ukraine» when, as Vladyslav Goloborodko stated, «Beget Ukraine» broke its legal and technical ties with Russian «Beget». As we uncovered, websites of Ukrainian clients of «Beget Ukraine» have been hosted by servers of Russian «Beget» until March 2022.
As Goloborodko said, after Russian full scale invasion and ypon decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, all servers located on the territory of Russia have been blocked in one month. Below is detailed explanation of those events by director of «Beget Ukraine» (upon his request, we do not quote some phrases about cooperaton with the State Security Service of Ukraine):
«How did company work? Servers were located on the territory of Russia. We had signed agreement. I bought this company and they (i.e. Russian LLC «Beget» – ed.) provided technical support. Some servers were located in Russia, some – in Germany, some servers – in the USA, as far as I know. That is to say, company’s servers were located in various countries. Then, all our clients were transferred from servers located on the Russian territory. More to that, we had a number of requests from the State Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigations and National Police of Ukraine… We have always cooperated and provided answers».
Vladyslav Goloborodko told many times about his patriotism and cooperation with Ukrainian law enforcement bodies in his interview.
In order to avoid mistakes, after interview, we sent written request to him and repeated our questions about servers where clients of «Beget Ukraine» were transferred.
It seems that Mr. Goloborodko perceived our intention to get precise answer as violation of journalist standards and thought that our investigation has been «ordered» by his competitors. His answer is as follows:
«Servers of company «Beget» are located in Kazakhstan, Germany and Russia. After the beginning of war (24.02.2024, not 2014 – ed.), Ukraine blocked the possibility to use servers in the Russian Federation. Clients of LLC «Beget Ukraine» ran into the problem of access to their web resources. Their resources were transferred to servers in Kazakhstan and Germany. We started considering possibilities about putting servers in Ukraine but concluded that regular air attacks made this decision risky. That is why your claims about use of servers in Russia are not grounded, even from technical point of view».
Mr. Goloborodko did not indicate owners of servers in Kazakhstan and Germany. We do not know whether he ignored this information consciously.
Website of Russian «Beget» provides a hint. It is contact phone numbers of company in Kazakhstan, posted on its website with contact phone of numbers in Kyiv, belonging to «Beget Ukraine».
We asked Goloborodko to explain it, as he insisted that companies were not connected anymore. He gave the following answer: «The reason is that we had an agreement. According to it, I cannot change trade \ commercial name of the company. If you will look further, there is an alternative company «Beget Kazakhstan».
We looked at it and discovered that Kazakh and Russian «Beget» are directly connected. Russian «Beget» and LLC «Beget Kazakhstan» (tax number 220340020703), registered in Astana in March 2022, have the same owners: Vladislav Kolesnikov, Aleksandr Klukov, Aleksei Manikin, Aleksandr Iljin and one joint director – Aleksandr Klukov. It seems that «Beget Kazakhstan» is a clone of Russian company.
Does it mean that websites of Ukrainian clients of «Beget Ukraine» were transferred from servers of Russian «Beget» in Sankt Petersburg to servers of Russian «Beget» in Astana?!
In Germany, we found limited liability company called BeGet, GmbH. It was founded in Berlin on May 5, 2015. Aleksandr Iljin, co-owner of Russian «Beget», has been its managing director. German «Beget» was liquidated in April 2021.
Where the site of LLC «Beget Ukraine» is hosted? According to Whois service, the site is «hosted» by Cloudflare, i.e. it is impossible to see its servers.
We conducted small experiment and uncovered real location of its servers. You can do it yourself (if you are client of the company, do it obligatory).
Website of «Beget Ukraine» contains a form for registration of account where e-mail should be filled in. We received an answer from the support team of website with the following text: «You sent application for registration of an account with hosting provider LLC «Beget Ukraine». To continue registration, please, fill in….» (list of data to be given). Right corner of this letter contains a list of options – to answer letter, send, print, delete etc. We clicked on an option «Original» and discovered … beget.ru!
We asked IT specialist from Ukrainian leading IT company to analyze technical data given above. Here is his comment:
«System of generation of automatic answers from the website provides confirmation that «Beget Ukraine» is indeed connected with Russian «Beget». When site generates automatic letter to user request (for example, for registration), then, before the delivery, this letter travels through a number of mail servers: directly from server of the site – to server of your mail box. Each mail server adds its technical data to the letter: from where and when letter was received, with what internal identification etc. In the case of «Beget Ukraine», we see that the letter, sent in response to the request from its website, was dispatched from IP address of server belonging to addresses of company Beget LLC located in Sankt Petersburg, Russia».
You can use service infobyip.com, put IP address of server 185.155.118.1 and discover its location in Sankt Petersburg:
What are other businesses of Mr Goloborodko in Ukraine and elsewhere?
Goloborodko and his businesses
According to analytical service YouControl, Vladyslav Goloborodko is the founder and \ or director of almost twenty legal entities in Ukraine. In 2023, he registered company in resort city in Montenegro. There are «historical» connections with other ten Ukrainian companies and organizations.
As a rule, large number of companies, registered by one person, is a sign that a person is nominal or fake owner. Real owners and managers use such a person to hide their ownership.
We assume that Mr. Goloborodko is not such a person and that he possesses various talents and is capable to manage dozens of different businesses on his own.
Mr. Goloborodko is lawyer by training. He has his own legal company «Nika», providing services to clients of private clinic in Kyiv.
He is also an owner of cleaning company. It won recently tenders to clean offices of the department of municipal economy of Pechersk district and corruption prevention department of Kyiv City State Administration.
Vladyslav Goloborodko at the factory in Kharkiv, 2020. Photo: Instagram
Another business sphere is industrial equipment and metals. Together with Oleksandr Myroshnychenko, owner of «Nuklasolar Ukraine», Golobodorodko is co-founder of LLC «Teplospetsinvest».
Mr. Goloborodko likes arts and folk songs. He is co-founder and manager of charitable fund «Fund for the development of Ukrainian song». He has mentioned many times his cooperation with Anatolii Avdievsky, head of Ukrainian choir named after G.Veryovka, and posted his photos in Ukrainian traditional clothes in his social media.
Mr. Goloborodko is also manager of charitable fund of Irakli Makatsaria, participant of TV shows «Happy people» and «Single».
In 2019, Vladyslav Goloborodko headed security company «Davoks group», owned by David Saakashvili, brother of ex-President of Georgia. It has been registered in Kyiv at the following address: Pyrogova street, 1/35. It is remarkable that several other companies of Goloborodko were registered at this address.
One of them is called «Grand stamp», manufacturing seals and stamps.
It was reported that, in 2016, this company manufactured stamps and seals for «all police offices», seals for the State Security Service of Ukraine, state registrars and Kyiv authorities. It should be reminded that Goloborodko has been director of the Russian office of «Beget» in Ukraine, whereas central office of «Beget» in Sankt Petersburg cooperated with Russian occupation authorities on temporary occupied territories of Ukraine.
Vladyslav Goloborodko, 2016. Photo: Facebook 2016
As it turned out, Goloborodko cooperated with other Russian businessmen. He is still director of LLC «Vsimaiky Ukrainy». The company was founded by Russian citizen Levhcenko Vasili Aleksandrovich from Russian city of Novosibirsk. In his native city, he is the owner of company «Vsemarket» (its website is called «vsemaiki.ru»), manufacturing and selling clothes with prints, souvenirs and tableware.
Online shop of Levchenko’s company sells T-shirts of Russian regions, including T-shirts with prints «Lugansk Republic», «Donetsk Republic» and «82nd region Republic Crimea».
This Russian partner of Goloborodko sells a lot of Russian patriotic stuff: T-shirts with names of Russian cities, print of the Kerch Bridge and Crimean resorts, other goods under sections «Russian Empire», «Law enforcement bodies» etc.
Business of Goloborodko in Montenegro
Instagram account of Yulia Zubchenko, the wife of Goloborodko, reported that they opened café «Sofi» on the waterfront of Tivat in Montenegro at the beginning of October 2023. Instagram photo demonstrates opening ceremony and Vladyslav Goloborodko.
He owns 100% of company Sofi Cafe DOO, registered in Tivat on April 25, 2023. He is indicated as its director and Yulia Zubchenko – as deputy director.
Vladyslav Goloborodko (extreme left) with team of café «Sofi» in Tivat, October 2023. Photo: Instagram
Café «Sofi» is located at the first line of waterfront of the Bay of Kotor. The largest in the world yachting marina Porto Montenegro is close to the café. Super-yachts often visit this marina.
The family covers its business in Instagram account and on the website of café. Access to the website is possible from Ukraine only with the use of vpn. Perhaps, hosting of the website is provided by Russian «Beget»?
Important question hangs without answer – how did 36 years old Vladyslav Goloborodko leave Ukraine during martial law? As it is known, there is a ban on leaving the country for men if they are not exempted.
Café «Sofi» of Vladyslav Goloborodko is located on the waterfront of the Bay of Kotor in Tivat, close of yachting marina Porto Montenegro. Photo: Google.map
We asked Goloborodko about his current whereabouts but he refused to answer and referred to confidentiality of this information.
We received information from database «Arkan» that Vladyslav Goloborodko left Ukraine to Poland through border point «Grushiv» on May 7, 2022. There is no information about his return in the database.
We asked Goloborodko written question: under what conditions did he manage to leave the country under martial law?
He accused our journalist of breaching journalist standards. He said that our investigation was «ordered» by competitors and terminated further communication.
In order to confirm Goloborodko’s long term stay in Montenegro in 2023-2024, we present below his appearances on photos and videos posted on Instagram account and website of his café.
On February 14, 2023, Yulia Zubchenko posted photo with her husband in mountains.
Yulia Zubchenko and Vladyslav Goloborodko in Montenegro, February 2023. Photo: instagram
On October 3, 2023, photo was posted with Vladyslav, Yulia and team of café «Sofi», mentioned above.
Café introduced Christmas menu during Christmas and New Year holidays. As the owner of café, Vladyslav Goloborodko tells how they cook mulled wine on the video posted on January 7, 2024.
Переглянути цей допис в Instagram
On February 26, 2024, Yulia shared her story about successful work of café during winter in her Facebook account and posted photos with Goloborodko (Kyiv lawyer recognized him).
We do not make conclusions. We believe that respective Ukrainian governmental bodies should examine our information.
We propose Vladyslav Goloborodko to give straight answer to simple question: under what conditions did he leave Ukraine during martial law?
It is also important that Ukrainian and foreign bodies will evaluate activity of Russian LLC «Beget» on Ukrainian territories, temporary occupied by Russia.
The Center of Journalist Investigations will provide materials of our investigation to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and Ukrainian law enforcement bodies.
Tags: IT company, Aleksandr Iljin, Aleksei Manikin, Beget, Russian business, Vladyslav Goloborodko, Kazakhstan, café Sofi, Sankt Petersburg, hosting, Montenegro
