On November 12, the U.S. Department of the Treasure announced sanctions against 32 entities from various countries. Among them, there are two Ukraine-registered firms that supplied components to an Iranian company that produces military aircraft and drones of the Ababil series.
The Suspilne investigative editorial office has found information about these Ukrainian companies and their official owners, and about a woman associated with them who, according to the American report, organized the shipment of goods.
Iranian agents in Ukraine
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on 32 individuals and entities based in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, China, Hong Kong, India, Germany, and Ukraine that operate multiple procurement networks in supporting Iran’s ballistic missile and UAV production.
The US Treasury states: “Iran-based procurement agent Bahram Tabibi (Tabibi) has utilized his Ukraine-based front companies GK Imperativ Ukraina LLC (GK Imperativ) and Ekofera LLC (Ekofera) to procure and supply aerospace materials, including attitude indicators and magnetometers, for HESA.
Iran-based Batoul Shafiei (Shafiei) actively participated in the scheme to supply parts to HESA, having facilitated GK Imperativ and Ekofera’s receipt of payments from HESA, as well as Ekofera’s shipments destined for HESA in Iran.
Iran-based Saeed Pahlavani Nejad (Nejad) served as an intermediary between the Ukraine-based front companies and HESA, and facilitated sales of alternator components, engines, attitude indicators, sensors, and other equipment to HESA.
Tabibi, GK Imperativ, Ekofera, Shafiei, and Nejad are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 for having provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material, technological or other support for, or goods and services in support of, HESA.”
An Iranian in the Ukrainian company
According to the analytical system YouControl, Bahram Tabibi, mentioned by the US Treasury, is an Iranian citizen born in 1971. In February 2018, he registered LLC “GK Imperativ Ukraina” in Kharkiv. The name and the state registration code match those in the American report. The Iranian is still listed as the beneficial owner and director of this company.
Since its foundation, the company’s registered address has been 50 Romenska Street in Kharkiv. According to Google Maps, there is a private house at this address. Bahram Tabibi purchased the house and the land at this address on January 25, 2022. In addition, in March 2021, he purchased a one-room apartment in the “Hydropark” residential complex in Kharkiv.
According to the documents, the main activity of “GK Imperativ Ukraina” is “wholesale trade in other goods for economic purposes”. The authorized capital is 15 thousand hryvnias.
The financial statements, which we analyzed through data in YouControl, show that Tabibi’s company has had practically no profit since 2021: 7,400 hryvnias in 2021 and nothing at all in 2022-2023. In 2024 and 2025, the company probably did not file any financial reports at all.
Additionally, using the OpenDataBot tool, we found out that LLC “GK Imperativ Ukraina” had official employees only in 2021, and even then, the company had only one official employee.
We did not find data on the company’s foreign economic activity. However, in 2019 and 2020, the company sold rolled fiberglass to “Vinnytsiaoblteploenergo” for 30 and 18 thousand hryvnias, respectively.
In addition, in 2018, the company received a payment for fiberglass from “Tokmak Teploenergiia” from Zaporizhzhia region.
The second sanctioned company
Another company sanctioned by the United States is called “Ekonsfera”, not “Ekofera”. The US Treasury Department probably made a mistake transliterating the name, but provided the Ukrainian registration code of the violating company, which helped in our search for the LLC.
This LLC was registered in October 2016 in Boryspil by two firms from Kyiv region. Its main activity is non-specialized wholesale trade, and the authorized capital is 100 hryvnias. A few months after its creation, in February 2017, Vitalii Hurin became the sole beneficiary and director of the LLC. The company was re-registered in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv in the premises where various legal aid centers and trading firms are registered.
The company, as YouControl shows, has never submitted financial reports. As for the owner and director, Vitalii Hurin is a Kyiv resident who has been repeatedly convicted of theft and drugs. He has been behind bars periodically since 1995.
As the data from the court register show, in October 2017, the Obolonskyi District Court of Kyiv again sentenced Hurin to five years in prison for the repeated purchase and storage of large quantities of acetylated opium. That happened after Hurin’s name appeared in “Ekonsfera” LLC. Before that, in February 2016, he was released from prison where he was serving the sentence for similar crimes.
While Hurin was serving his sentence, in September 2021, the Podilskyi District Court of Kyiv sentenced him to one year of imprisonment for forging documents submitted for registration of a legal entity. The case began to be investigated in February 2017. In fact, the company mentioned in the US sanctions had been visible to the Ukrainian law enforcement since that time.
As stated in the text of the verdict, at the request of an unknown person, Hurin agreed to register LLC “Ekonsfera” without the purpose of conducting financial and economic activities, for a monetary reward of 500 hryvnias. Then he handed over all the documents certified with his signature to persons not identified by the investigation for a monetary reward of 2,500 hryvnias.
The court found Hurin guilty and sentenced him to one year in prison. However, this sentence was covered by another because the man was already serving a six-year sentence for drugs.
The money in the accounts of “Ekonsfera” LLC at “Sberbank” PJSC and in the Treasury was frozen in 2017, and by a verdict in 2021, the money was confiscated to the state’s revenue. It is unknown what amounts are involved, as we did not find the decision to seize these funds in the court register.
The facilitator of shipments
The US Treasury website mentions one more name in the context of Ukraine – Iranian citizen Batoul Shafiei, born in 1973. She allegedly actively participated in the scheme to supply parts to an Iranian drone manufacturer: she organized the shipment of the “Ekonsfera” cargo intended for HESA in Iran.
As we found out, Batoul Shafiei visited Ukraine at least once in 2017, as that was when she registered her marriage to Kadzhyk Ambartsumian in Kharkiv. We learned this from the divorce verdict. The divorce was initiated by Ambartsumian just before the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.
The verdict also mentions that Batoul Shafiei filed a statement with the court in October 2022 stating that she did not object to the divorce. We did not find any property or companies belonging to the woman in Ukrainian registers.
Consequences of the imposed sanctions
All assets of sanctioned individuals within the reach of U.S. jurisdiction are completely blocked. U.S. citizens and companies are prohibited from having any financial or business relationship with these individuals or their assets.
Foreign banks and other entities should also be careful: if they knowingly conduct large transactions for these sanctioned entities or provide significant support to them, they could be subject to sanctions themselves. This can lead to losing access to the U.S. financial system or to freezing their assets within the reach of U.S.
The Suspilne investigative editorial office has addressed the Security Service of Ukraine for comment, asking it to indicate whether criminal proceedings have been initiated against “Ekonsfera” LLC and “GK Imperativ Ukraina” due to their trade with Iran. As soon as we get an official response, we will publish it.
This publication was funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.