One of Russia’s Largest Importers of Sanctioned Aircraft Parts Has Changed Ownership after the IStories Investigation
The changes in the company’s structure were made 17 days after the investigation was released
The wife of businessman Pavel Provotorov, Ekaterina Provotorova, has withdrawn from the company Protektor, one of the leaders in the supply of sanctioned Boeing and Airbus aircraft parts to Russia, according to the register. The changes in the company's structure were made 17 days after the IStories’ investigation was released.
The new Protektor’s owner is Gennady Eliseev. Nothing is publicly known about his experience in the aviation industry.
In September, IStories told how Russian airlines are getting spare parts for Boeing and Airbus by purchasing them through “friendly” countries. One of the main buyers of spare parts in Russia is the Moscow-based company Protektor. In the 2022 year, its revenue grew almost 200 times — to 4.6B rubles (≈$49.35M at the exchange rate as of November 2, 2023). Apparently, Boeing spare parts played a role here — Protektor bought them for about 2B rubles to resell them to Russian airlines such as UTair, Pobeda, S7 and others.
The owner and CEO of Protektor at the time was 25-year-old Ekaterina Provotorova. She was most likely representing her husband: Pavel Provotorov worked for RusLine aviation company and was a co-owner of Fastair International (which is under U.S. sanctions) and Kannam, which were involved in customs clearance of cargo and trade in equipment, machinery, ships and aircraft. Provotorov is listed in the GetContact phone app as the head of Protektor, as well as “Pavel Aircraft Parts,” “Pavel Spare Parts,” “Pavel Aircraft,” and “Pasha USA.”
Provotorov also had an aviation business in the United States — until recently, the businessman was vice president of Whitestripe, a company that supplies components for aircraft. After the release of the IStories’ investigation, Provotorov left the US business as well.
In Protektor’s bank records, there are payments for transportation and forwarding services for the delivery of goods from the United States. In particular, on at least four occasions Protektor received Boeing aircraft parts from the American company Miami Star Truck Parts. Its main business is the supply of spare parts for trucks.
Provotorov and Protektor ignored the IStories’ inquiries.