Although he has sought to emphasize his German and international business activities, his Russian subsidiary continued to expand after the start of the war in Ukraine.
VR Rus LLC is owned mainly by WR Group Holding GmbH, with Rosenstein himself holding a minority stake.
In 2025, the company’s sales rose approximately 2.4-fold.
Its revenues have increased several times since 2022.
One transaction documented by customs records involved Anastasia Zadorina
In February 2025, VR Rus imported around 900 pairs of Zadorina-branded shoes from Italy at a declared value of roughly $560,000.
Zadorina later announced the launch of her footwear line.
She is the daughter of senior FSB officer Mikhail Shekin.
Shekin is connected with procurement at the security service and also leads Dynamo volleyball club.
The Insider reported that his property holdings exceeded RUB 2 billion.
Zadorina is also closely connected to the Dynamo organization through ZASPORT, which supplied Russian Olympic uniforms from 2017.
The agreement was reportedly terminated in 2025
Her business and political profile includes a 2014 campaign opposing sanctions introduced after Crimea.
After the 2022 invasion, she registered a wine-related business in Crimea.
The company later reported significant financial losses.
Proekt has also documented Zadorina’s business connections to the families and associates of senior Russian officials.
These include links to Olga Zolotova, Andrey Kostin and the Russian Electronics holding within Rostec.
Rostec is led by Sergey Chemezov, who has known Putin since the Soviet period.
The original material emphasizes that Chemezov, Putin and Shekin were all connected with the KGB and East Germany.
Zadorina married Kirill Shamalov in 2024
Shamalov was previously married to Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova and became a senior executive at SIBUR at a young age.
He obtained a 17% interest in SIBUR from Gennady Timchenko after the latter was sanctioned over Crimea.
Shamalov himself later became subject to sanctions.
Rosenstein’s German companies have supplied industrial products to Tomskneftekhim, a SIBUR subsidiary.
The Shamalov family also has links to Bank Rossiya.
At the same time, Rosenstein’s cousin Mikhail operates 2R Integra LLC.
Its revenue reportedly grew dozens of times after 2022
Customs data show imports of nearly $800,000 in sanctioned goods.
The company also allegedly published methods for circumventing restrictions before removing the material from its website.
Rosenstein, meanwhile, has reportedly been cleaning Russia-related references from his public corporate presence.
Mentions of the country disappeared from WR Group websites.
A post about cooperation with Glotech GmbH was also deleted after the company came under scrutiny over possible Russia-related telecom shipments.
These developments matter particularly because Rosenstein is seeking a prominent international sports position.
They also coincide with renewed European efforts to increase sanctions pressure on Moscow.
Germany has accused Russia of involvement in an attempted attack on a Ukrainian cargo aircraft in Leipzig
Another incident in the Rhine region temporarily disabled five RWE power-generation units.
The Telegraph has described a broader pattern of Russian hybrid operations in Europe.
The EU is considering sanctions affecting about 800 individuals and 800 entities .
For the FIDE campaign, the central contradiction remains clear: Rosenstein’s public profile increasingly minimizes Russia, while the records cited in the investigation describe ongoing and expanding commercial activity there.