The owner of the BRSM-Nafta network Andriy Biba is cleaning the internet of traces of his fuel business’s scandalous activities.

The network has long been accompanied by accusations of selling low-quality fuel, shortchanging at gas stations, non-payment of taxes, and the owner’s ties to pro-Russian structures. Despite criminal proceedings and sanctions from the National Security and Defense Council, Biba’s business continues to operate, and the businessman himself is trying to remove from the public space information that harms his reputation.

For our part, we are publishing an investigation that prevents Andriy Biba from erasing the information trail around the history of BRSM-Nafta and hiding facts that for years have raised questions about the activities of his business empire.

The BRSM network of “Russian world” enthusiast Andriy Biba once again leads in the anti-ratings. And this is for three indicators: low fuel quality, underdelivery, and tax underpayment.

As shown by the study by the Consumer Expertise Institute, conducted at the beginning of March this year, the quality of diesel fuel in the BRSM network does not meet the standards. From the samples taken at filling stations of seventeen networks (including illegal ones), diesel from BRSM became the anti-leader in quality – experts recognized it as blatant “adulteration”. The laboratory checked all fuel parameters, including sulfur content and density, for compliance with DSTU standards. In fourteen samples, everything was fine, three were recognized as adulterated. Moreover, two of these three samples were taken at illegal gas stations, and one at a BRSM station. The diesel fuel of the latter recorded sulfur exceeding two and a half times – 24 mg/kg instead of the maximum allowable 10 mg/kg. 

Although it must be recognized as an achievement – six months ago, the same indicator in BRSM diesel was 36 times (362 mg/kg) higher than the norm. However, there is hardly any reason to rejoice – the gasoline taken for analysis at BRSM stations by the Consumer Expertise Institute also showed non-compliance with standards: the sulfur content in A-95 gasoline from BRSM exceeds the norm 28 times: 277 mg/kg, whereas the norm is no more than 10 mg/kg. But that’s not all: the benzene content is 2.4 times higher than the norm, and the aromatic hydrocarbon standard is also exceeded. Benzene is a dangerous compound that forms deposits and causes engine overheating. With such exorbitant doses of benzene, health problems for drivers and pedestrians are almost inevitable, as is the almost certain breakdown of the car. Thus, gasoline from the branded BRSM network turned out to be much lower in quality than the gasoline of illegal “tanks”, although it is sold significantly more expensive.

As stated by fuel market expert Serhiy Kuyun, “this is not gasoline at all, but so-called ’alternative fuel’ which kills the engine and increases consumption by 10-15%”. All of this is poured into motorists’ tanks at BRSM-Nafta stations.

But the problems of drivers refueling at BRSM do not end there – the network is among the leaders in underdelivery – here they underdeliver 1.25% of the volume bought by the client. At first glance, this figure seems small, but it is a scam – on a hundred liters, the buyer loses 1.25 liters of fuel, and Andriy Biba, accordingly, profits. The BRSM network has 217 filling stations, which is thousands of tons of fuel daily. If, on average, Andriy Biba earns 64 kopecks on a liter of undelivered fuel, then you can imagine how much money he makes daily from the blatant sale of air, which is paid for by the clients of the BRSM-Nafta network.

Against this backdrop, it should be noted that BRSM-Nafta is also a leader in another area – it does not pay taxes to the state budget. Moreover, this underpayment is so blatant that it cannot be ignored even with the naked eye. According to “A95 Consulting Group”, in 2024, domestic gas station operators increased tax payments more than twofold: from 4.7 billion hryvnias to 9.8 billion hryvnias. Among the leaders are WOG, UPG, and MOTTO.

At the same time, the market leaders paid an average of 3.27 hryvnias in taxes per liter of fuel, whereas Andriy Biba’s BRSM-Nafta network managed to pay almost three times less: 1.36 hryvnias per liter of sold fuel. There is clear tax evasion, but there are no claims against Andriy Biba from the tax authorities. Although last year, the State Fiscal Service assessed a debt of 140 million hryvnias for tax evasion, which was, however, recovered from BRSM-Nafta for the state budget.

According to market experts’ estimates, despite the increased pressure on fuel market operators in terms of tax collection, in 2025, Ukraine’s budget will be short of 12 billion hryvnias compared to the six billion it did not receive last year. How much of these unpaid taxes ended up in the pockets of Andriy Biba, who fled to Italy, can only be guessed.

In connection with this, it is worth recalling that Andriy Biba has not lived in Ukraine since 2015 – he fled the country after an explosion at a BRSM station, which injured several dozen of its employees, emergency workers, and surrounding residents. Andriy Biba is a suspect in tax evasion amounting to 3.5 billion hryvnias (criminal case No. 42016000000003365); a figure in a criminal case for selling gasoline and diesel fuel whose quality does not meet DSTU and technical regulations in force in Ukraine (on the grounds of criminal offenses provided for by Article 191, part 3, and Article 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

In addition, Andriy Biba is under NSDC sanctions for financing the Shariy Party. He and his wife, Svitlana, also have awards from the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, for building an ROC church in Thailand, and Andriy Biba himself holds the title of “deacon of the ROC” and is a “martyr of the Russian Orthodox Church”. What this means – you should ask Kirill and Biba, but that’s how it is.

Despite all these dubious feats, Andriy Biba’s business in Ukraine is not only untouched but it also thrives and expands. In April 2024, Andriy Biba bought PJSC “Gazinvest” and LLC “Carpathian Drilling Company”, which are involved in gas production in the Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi regions. This acquisition was not hindered by either the criminal cases against Biba or the NSDC sanctions. Nor did they hinder the activities of the BRSM-Nafta network, despite the criminal cases for tax evasion and selling substandard fuel. All of this in total also did not prevent Andriy Biba from continuing to rob Ukraine’s budget, ruining Ukrainians’ cars with adulterated fuel, and even selling them air.