The new operator of Lukashenko’s jet is a company owned by a businessman who is linked to an ethnic Turkish international criminal group

A jet reserved for the inner circle…

A luxury jet was photographed at Geneva International Airport in May 2025. Although it was painted in the colors of the official Belarusian flag, it had the San Marino registration number T7-AFP. San Marino is a jurisdiction that caters to foreign owners, offers tax incentives, and does not publicly disclose aircraft owners details. Local photographer Corentin Altherr captured the plane and posted the photo on Pictaero.com, a website created by aviation enthusiasts. It was a Gulfstream G550 business jet. Since 2020, it had been linked to Aleksandr Lukashenko’s family and inner circle.

According to the Dutch Aviation Society’s database, the aircraft received a new registration number in May 2025. From 2020 to 2021, the jet was registered in Belarus under the tail number EW-001PJ. In Belarus, the “001” designation is reserved exclusively for Lukashenko’s aircraft. The most striking examples are the EW-001PA and EW-001PB Boeings, and the EW-001PH helicopter,which media reports linked to Russian businessman Mikail Gutseriev. They are all painted in the official national colors and bear the word “Belarus” on their fuselages. Lukashenko is known for his fondness for the number one. His hockey jersey number is 01. Moreover, his passport number from the leaked PCR test database consists entirely of zeros and ones.

As far as we know, Aleksandr Lukashenko did not fly on the Gulfstream G550 business jet himself. [*] [*] [*] [*] It was used by the politician’s family.

In 2020, TUT.BY journalists noticed that the jet was flying the same routes as Lukashenko’s sons. For example, in October 2019, it flew from Minsk to Warsaw, where the 48th European Olympic Committees (EOC) General Assembly was taking place. Viktor Lukashenko, then acting first vice president of the NOC of Belarus, headed the Belarusian delegation. From October 28 to November 8, 2019, the plane was in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) [*] while Lukashenko was there on an official visit. Viktor and Dmitry, his sons, went on the trip with him. Using data from CyberPartisans, the BIC confirmed this information. We previously reported that Lilia, Lukashenko’s daughter-in-law, had also used this plane. We also found that [*] Lukashenko’s “wallet,” Aliaksei Aleksin; Sergei Zelenkevich, chief of staff to the presidential aide on national security; and Viktor Lukashenko were all flying together on the jet, which was by that time registered in Belarus.

The jet was subject to UK sanctions in 2021, after which it was re-registered in Russia with the tail number RA-11003.

In early 2022, the MotolkoPomogi project reported that Russian oligarch Mikail Gutseriev allegedly gave Aleksandr Lukashenko this $60 million jet as a gift. TUT.BY linked the plane to another businessman. Before being registered in Belarus in February 2020, the Gulfstream G550 jet had the Austrian registration number OE-ILN. The publication identified Eolinus as the customer for the jet’s first trip to Minsk in 2019. Journalists linked the owner to OOO Yularus and, through that company, to Aleksei Tšulets, a business partner of Mikalai Varabei. In response to a request from the BIC, Aleksei Tšulets stated that “the companies OOO Yularus and NT Marine [NT Marine OÜ is Tšulets’ Estonian company — ed. note] have no connection whatsoever with Eolinus, and I know nothing about that company.” He noted that he had never flown on the Gulfstream G550 before and didn’'“t know anything about it.

…and the very wealthy

After the aircraft was re-registered in San Marino, online aviation databases began listing Falcon Luxe as the operator of the aircraft — a company associated with Mustafa Egemen Şener. Şener is the owner of the H Casino in Minsk and had previously been implicated in a BIC investigation into potential money laundering.

Falcon Luxe, which now manages the Lukashenko family’s business jet, states on its website that the company is the private charter division of Falcon, which, in turn, is part of Alex Group Investment LLC. Sultan Rashid Abdulla Rashid Al Shene is listed as the founder and chairman of the Alex Group Investment.

This name has already come up in the BIC’s investigation into money laundering through H Casino in Minsk. We then concluded that Mustafa Egemen Şener, a Turkish businessman and the official owner of one of Belarus’s most profitable casinos at the time, could use the name “Sultan Rashid Abdulla Rashid Al Shene.”

At the time, we referenced documents from the Dubai Land Department that showed Sultan Rashid Abdulla Rashid Al Shene owned almost 90 properties in the emirate. The documents also listed a phone number that was registered in his name. After further investigation, the BIC found that this number is associated with a Microsoft account named “Egemen Şener,” which features the businessman’s photo. That same number was linked to his name on the GetContact service. When journalists called the number and asked whether they were speaking with Mr Şener, the person on the other end confirmed.

During the same investigation, we discovered that Mustafa Şener was connected to the criminal enterprise of Halil Falyalı, a businessman who was murdered in Northern Cyprus and was associated with a network of illegal gambling websites. Falyalı’s former CFO claimed that Şener may have used the Minsk casino to launder cash from illegal online gambling operations in Europe. According to him, the funds were recorded as casino revenue, transferred to Dubai, and then used to purchase high-end real estate. It is possible that Şener’s business in Minsk operated under the patronage of individuals linked to law enforcement agencies and Aleksandr Lukashenko’s inner circle.

New routes

After its registration was changed to San Marino, the luxury jet began to be used more frequently. Since July 10, 2025 — the date of its first flight after re-registration, from Geneva to Dubai — the aircraft has completed more than 100 flights. [*] [*] [*] [*] Its destinations are varied: Europe, the United States, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The aircraft is most likely based in Dubai since the city was the departure or arrival point 53 times.

Although Falcon Luxe, the jet operator, offers private jet charters, the aircraft does not appear in its “Fleet” section.

At the time of publication, it remained unclear whether the change involved a transfer of ownership, a change of operator, or merely the aircraft’s re-registration. The BIC sent requests to Falcon Luxe, Alex Group Investment LLC, and Mustafa Egemen Şener, as well as to representatives involved in operating the aircraft, asking them to comment on their roles in managing the aircraft and the nature of their ties to individuals in Aleksandr Lukashenko’s inner circle. As of the time of publication, no responses had been received.