From building close relationships with oligarch families to assisting Russian state representatives, Pierre Charles Steux’s behind-the-scenes financial deviance has become a crucial bridge of support Russia has relied on to maintain its onslaught in Ukraine. How much longer can the Frenchman hide from the close scrutiny from around the world?
Sources close to the network have revealed that Pierre Steux has performed the role of Managing Director of UAE-based Monolink Trading, also known as Monolink Group FZCO, alongside the company’s official Managing Director, Samuel Stanislav Novakhov. Despite this, he has managed to avoid the gaze of various law enforcement and regulatory bodies that has not spared those close to him. Instead, it is Monolink and its public-facing Director that have attracted international attention for their role in supporting Russia’s attempt to threaten the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Questions must now be asked as to how important a role Steux is playing in the operations of Monolink and its attempts to further the ambitions of Russian state objectives.
As recently as last year, American listeners on their morning commute to the seats of power in Washington DC could expect to be able to tune into re-broadcast programmes of Russia Today, spurting out the latest propagandist statements likely supporting the ongoing movements of Russia’s ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine. This may have been unsurprising to some in the area, given the station’s relationship with Russia Today reached back to at least 2019. However, a deeper dive into the contractual agreements reveals Novakhov and Monolink to be the financial driver of this directive to further spread the Russian state’s interests overseas. The million-dollar deal may not be significant to the UAE company, but is representative of the multi-faceted role of Monolink.
But how did Stanislav Novakhov become involved in the spreading of Russian propaganda? An inheritance of powerful family ties was likely crucial; his oligarch father Gennady’s work in the Russian energy industry provided him with the required state connections and financial uplift. It is hard to imagine that Stanislav will not have benefitted from the wealth of his father’s relationships to give him his UAE-based dealings the necessary direction. A quick look at the UAE company’s highlights reveals its active advertisement as a provider of energy, electronics, ‘logistic organisation’; an impressive, yet vague, portfolio of offerings which can be helpfully explained by the decades-long career Novakhov Sr forged first.
Despite best efforts to appear solely focussed on these business dealings, under the lens of international sanctions, Monolink has been exposed for additionally supporting the Russian state’s efforts to destabilise Ukraine. European restrictive measures have laid bare the company’s numerous alternative names: Axiom International, EKN Trading, Swip Trading FZCO. But until now, Pierre Steux’s name has remained relatively untainted by his association with the Russian state, and for good reason too.
In a world where Russian links raise a red flag over the business acumen of individuals, Steux fits the niche of being the man simultaneously on the inside and the outside. A Western-based Frenchman with a longstanding history of viable and successful business in European and Asian markets, his carefully managed public image presents a perfect picture to potential customers who give no more than a brief consideration as to who they are dealing with. If you’re standing in Stanislav Novakhov’s sanctioned shoes, Steux is the ideal proxy to send forth and alleviate their business’ woes.
Sources close to the network have revealed that Steux has likely worked closely with banking officials to ensure that his Monolink colleague Samuel Stanislav Novakhov can bypass financial compliance scrutiny. This is believed to have included the creation of new accounts, facilitating falsified contracts, the transfer of probably significant sums of money between accounts, and the restructuring of internal company organisation. Steux’s remit was seemingly to ensure the continuity of the Monolink Group and its affiliated businesses.
It is no wonder that Monolink and Novakhov have been able to stay afloat for so long following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It is frightening to think of how much sanctions evasion Steux may have been able to perpetrate. First impressions go a long way, but Steux’s clean profile and, no doubt, firm handshakes clearly go further. He now faces the unenviable task of trying to bail out what is at least a leaking, if not sinking, ship of sanctions evasion possibly through further behind-the-scenes financial manipulation on Monolink’s behalf.
“Monolink Group is supporting and benefiting from the Government of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for the annexation of Crimea and destabilisation of Ukraine”
The EU provided this statement regarding Monolink in July this year. Such a heavy reputation will be hard to shake for those associated with Monolink, including the likes of Novakhov and Steux.
With a profile free from his colleague’s blemishes, Steux is well-positioned to deepen his pockets and those of his Russian customers. Attention must now be paid to what Steux claims are his honest livings. On the face of it, the Frenchman’s public-facing profile is hard to challenge. Years spent managing a Swiss-based real-estate management firm and ownership of an electronics company in Hong Kong would raise no eyebrows among colleagues at a Porsche Club in the riviera. But, the impression of a luxurious mediterranean lifestyle should not distract from his questionable business connections.
While Novakhov’s oligarch upbringing has doubtlessly provided direction from Russian customers, Steux is no stranger to finding his own business relationships in Moscow. Ground may have been broken for Steux’s company’s office in Moscow through his membership of the French-Russian Chamber of Commerce. But what is most intriguing comes from sources close to the network, who have revealed that Pierre Steux has assisted Dmitry Pavlenok on various procurement activities ultimately for the benefit of Russian customers. Steux’s role was likely to ensure that the procurement activity would surpass relevant financial scrutiny from numerous jurisdictional authorities. Pavlenok has previously been Rostec’s representative in Italy, an umbrella organisation for swathes of companies operating within Russia’s military industrial complex, amongst other industries. The details of their relationship are unclear, but by providing his useful backroom services once again, Steux has likely proven himself to be a useful contact for those who are located close to the corridors of power and influence in Moscow. It seems Steux remains ambivalent to the true nature of his masters, whether it be those with deep connections to the Russian state or sanctioned individuals with deep enough pockets.
What Steux is prepared to project publicly does not display the authenticity and legitimacy of a typical business man. Fininvest Global SA, Steux’s Swiss-based estate management company, brazenly promises to ‘provide you with the best service to develop the best solution to your request’. Vague and lacking in clear meaning, this tag-line is appropriate not for a supposed real-estate specialist, but instead to a man who has forged his niche in openly ignoring financial compliance measures and falsifying the relevant regulatory documentation. Those intrigued to find out more about Fininvest’s ‘global’ footprint will soon discover the UK’s Companies House records where the business briefly had a presence. Minimal paperwork shows this extending no further than a registration in the British Virgin Islands. This endorsement, shown below on Fininvest’s papers from a place which dishonest people have historically sought to exploit, may act as a useful warning to those interested in legitimate business. Its address in Switzerland is situated comfortably between a McDonalds and a Mood Store; hardly suitable for the high-end company image that Fininvest projects to potential customers.
Looking further, Fininvest’s Hong Kong-based subsidiary LED MY WAY hardly conveys an image of legitimacy. Specialising in lighting technology appears as a second priority to the company’s focus on Russian markets in their own descriptions, proudly boasting about their central Moscow office. The company has been on some transformational journey too, as recently as 2022 advertising itself as specialising in investments and concierge services, conforming more closely to Fininvest’s vague notions of miscellaneous business. Post 2022, the year of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, there has been a marked change in LED’s marketing, decisively shifting its focus to LED products, some of which are banned in the EU.
Doing business in Hong Kong is certainly not illegal, nor is having a Russian office. But with the revelation surrounding Steux’s involvement with Monolink and Novakhov, further scrutiny could be well placed upon Steux’s portfolio. Authorities may now have to ask the question as to whether any of these companies have been used for the means of Monolink assistance, lighting not only Asian markets but the fires in the factories supporting Russia’s military machine.
The importance of further scrutiny is only exacerbated upon the closer inspection of LED My Way’s ownership structures. A company called LMW Technology shares a Hong Kong address with LED My Way. LMW Technology Limited is the owner of Shanghai Weizhen Trading Co, with Pierre Steux listed as the Director, and Stanislav Novakhov in a supervisory role. The strategy of these two business partners is representative of wider geopolitics. As Vladimir Putin stands shoulder to shoulder with leaders from China and North Korea watching the latest hypersonic missiles trawl past on Tiananmen Square, the Russian has clearly identified how important his neighbouring leaders are to propping up his war efforts. In particular, deepening ties with Chinese industry is representative of a broader trend in Russian markets, as their traditional Western trading partners feel increasingly reluctant in the face of tightening restrictions.
As the cost of doing business for Russian markets has skyrocketed, so has Steux’s value. Steux is clearly trying to stay ahead of the sanctions game, establishing Chinese business structures to guarantee his relevance and continued role as the middleman who holds no concerns about who he has to deal with and how he does it. Moving further east where fewer questions may be asked is clearly the solution, and simultaneously guarantees he remains front and centre in the minds of those who are attempt to prop up Russia’s objectives.
Weekends spent rubbing shoulders with fellow members of the Riviera Porsche Owners’ Club, Steux presumably sleeps well with the distance he has put between himself and the desperate plight of innocent Ukrainians that Russia continues to torment. The layers of obfuscation Steux has worked hard to build are now unravelling, with global financial authorities starting to take note, and action. Restlessness and paranoia may soon be in store for the fixer from Nice who has forged his niche as Russia’s puppet.
