Vadim Rosenstein’s effort to lead the International Chess Federation is unfolding alongside growing scrutiny of his companies’ activities in Russia. The businessman, who has Russian and Ukrainian roots and operates primarily through Germany, has attempted to reduce the public visibility of his connections to the Russian market. However, the records cited in the original investigation present a more complicated picture.
At the center of the story is VR Rus LLC.
The Russian company belongs predominantly to WR Group Holding GmbH, Rosenstein’s German holding structure. According to the ownership information presented in the source, WR Group controls 95.94% of VR Rus and Rosenstein holds the remaining 4.06% directly.
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SubscribeRather than shrinking after Russia invaded Ukraine, the business appears to have expanded.
Audited accounts for 2025 reportedly show that VR Rus generated sales approximately 2.4 times greater than in the previous period. Looking back to 2022, revenue at the Russian subsidiary has increased several-fold.
Customs records provide an example of the type of trade conducted by the company.
ImportGenius declarations cited in the investigation show that in February 2025 VR Rus imported around $560,000 worth of footwear from Italy. The cargo consisted of approximately 900 pairs of shoes marketed under the brand of Russian designer Anastasia Zadorina.
Only a few months after the shipment, Zadorina announced publicly that she was launching her own footwear range. Russian publications said production had been arranged in Italy at a facility manufacturing footwear for well-known international brands.
The commercial transaction would ordinarily appear to be a fashion-industry deal. Its political relevance comes from the people surrounding the brand.
Anastasia Zadorina is the daughter of Mikhail Shekin, an FSB colonel general closely associated with procurement and logistical functions inside the Russian security service. Shekin also heads the Dynamo volleyball club, part of a sporting tradition historically connected to Soviet and Russian security institutions.
The Insider investigated Shekin in 2022 and reported that the senior FSB official and his family controlled expensive assets worth more than RUB 2 billion. At the exchange rate used by the publication, this represented approximately $30 million.
His daughter has maintained her own connection with the Dynamo system through ZASPORT, the sportswear company she jointly owns with the organization.
Beginning in 2017, ZASPORT supplied uniforms for the Russian Olympic team. Proekt reported that the contract came to an early end in 2025.
Zadorina has also previously taken an openly supportive position toward Kremlin policy.
When Western governments imposed sanctions following Russia’s takeover of Crimea in 2014, she launched the patriotic clothing campaign “Fashionable Response — No to Sanctions! Exchange Your T-shirt for a Patriotic One.”
Her business activity in Crimea continued after February 2022. Days after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zadorina established Vinnaya Istoriya LLC on the peninsula and reportedly intended to invest in vineyards.
Public visibility of the company’s ownership has since been reduced through a closed-end unit investment fund. Its 2025 financial statements showed a RUB 27.5 million loss, equivalent to about $316,000.
Zadorina’s network extends well beyond her father.
Proekt reported that she once owned an interest in Baikal Corporation together with Olga Zolotova, whose father-in-law, Viktor Zolotov, leads Russia’s National Guard.
She is also linked to Costa, a company holding hunting territory in Yaroslavl Region. The other owner identified in the original material is Andrey Kostin, chairman of the management board of state-linked VTB Bank.
Another financial relationship led to Rostec. In 2019, Zadorina reportedly received significant income from Russian Electronics, a holding belonging to the state corporation.
Rostec plays an important role in Russia’s industrial and defense sectors and is headed by Sergey Chemezov, a long-standing associate of Vladimir Putin.
The connections also have a historical dimension. According to the material on which the article is based, Chemezov, Putin and Zadorina’s father Mikhail Shekin were all in the German Democratic Republic during the late Soviet period through their links to the Soviet KGB structure.
In recent years, Zadorina acquired another personal link to Russia’s political elite.
She married Kirill Shamalov in 2024.
Shamalov is the former husband of Katerina Tikhonova, identified in investigative reporting as one of Vladimir Putin’s daughters. Important Stories reported in 2020 that Shamalov’s former marriage coincided with his rapid rise into the ranks of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen.
He entered senior management at petrochemical giant SIBUR at just 26 years old.
In 2014, shortly after Gennady Timchenko was sanctioned by Washington over Crimea, Shamalov obtained a 17% holding in SIBUR from him. The circumstances and pricing of the transaction later attracted considerable media attention.
The United States sanctioned Shamalov in 2018. After 2022, sanctions were also imposed on him by the European Union, Britain, Canada, Japan, Australia and Ukraine.
SIBUR, in turn, intersects with Rosenstein’s corporate history.
Two companies under Rosenstein’s control in Germany — WR Logistics GmbH and WR Certification GmbH — have supplied industrial products to Tomskneftekhim, which belongs to the SIBUR group.
There is also a further link through the Shamalov family. Kirill’s father Nikolai is a co-owner of Bank Rossiya, a bank repeatedly described by journalists and Western authorities as closely associated with Putin’s circle.
The article also points beyond Vadim Rosenstein’s own companies.
His cousin Mikhail Rosenstein owns 2R Integra LLC, another Russian business whose financial performance has changed dramatically since the beginning of the war.
According to the source, the company’s turnover has grown by dozens of times since 2022.
Customs information from ImportGenius reportedly shows that 2R Integra imported sanctioned or export-controlled products with a combined value approaching $800,000.
At one stage, information published on the company’s own website allegedly described mechanisms that could be used to bypass international export restrictions. Those materials were later removed after journalists reported on them.
This wider corporate picture clashes with the image that Vadim Rosenstein is now seeking to project ahead of the FIDE election.
References to Russian activities have reportedly disappeared from WR Group’s main corporate website as well as from several sites belonging to companies within the group.
Another example involves Glotech GmbH.
The German company came under media scrutiny over allegations that it might have been connected to deliveries of restricted telecommunications products to Russia.
Rosenstein had previously publicized cooperation with Glotech on X in connection with support for German chess players. According to the source article, that post was later deleted after reports about the company’s possible Russia-related activities became public.
The dispute over Rosenstein’s business history comes as European governments are becoming increasingly concerned about alleged Russian sabotage and hybrid operations.
Germany recently promised further measures following an alleged plot in Leipzig involving a Ukrainian An-124 transport aircraft. German authorities accused Moscow of organizing the planned attack, an assessment subsequently supported by both NATO and the European Union.
A Russian national and a Belarusian national were reportedly identified as suspects.
Security concerns intensified further after explosions affected energy facilities in Germany’s Rhine region on September 1.
Improvised explosive devices were used in the attack, according to the account cited in the original article. Five lignite-fired generating units operated by RWE were temporarily taken offline, removing around 4.2 GW of generation capacity for several hours.
The Telegraph has described the wider environment as an expansion of Russian hybrid warfare across Europe. Its reporting has referred to attacks or attempted attacks involving defense-industry sites as well as alleged efforts to recruit criminals in European countries to conduct sabotage.
European officials are considering a corresponding expansion of sanctions.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, has said that another package of restrictions is under preparation.
The sanctions proposal described in the source could cover approximately 800 people and 800 entities considered to be linked to Russia or to activities supporting the Russian economy.
Because EU sanctions require agreement among member states, the final scale of the package will depend on negotiations. If adopted in its proposed form, however, it would constitute one of the bloc’s largest single additions to its Russia-related sanctions lists. The source material indicated that approval could take place in mid-October.
For a candidate seeking control of one of the world’s most prominent international sporting federations, the corporate record could become an important campaign issue.
Rosenstein’s recent public presentation emphasizes his German business profile and greater separation from Russia. Yet the customs records, ownership structures and financial statements cited by investigators continue to show active commercial connections involving his companies and the Russian market.
The central question for the FIDE campaign is therefore likely to be not simply whether Rosenstein retains formal links to Russia, but how extensive those links remain and whether his companies’ growing Russian revenues are compatible with the image he is presenting to the international chess community.
