Dmitry Lukashenka's Presidential Sports Club Created Merch for Belarusian Universities
In 2017-2018, three higher education institutions in Belarus simultaneously launched their own university merchandise with corporate symbols — branded clothing and souvenir products. Sales were conducted through student stores in university buildings.
BSUIR became the pioneer. It was followed by the Medical University and BNTU. As the BSUIR press service reported, "the idea to create such a point was proposed by the company "University Traditions", which, in turn, adopted it from the experience of European universities."
"Bureau" found out that at the time of opening the merch points, "University Traditions" had three owners. The first is the Presidential Sports Club, whose permanent head for more than twenty years has been Dmitry Lukashenka.
The second company is "Soyuztrade". Its main activity is wholesale trade in other household goods. However, we found out that the company is a partner of "Yandex.Taxi" — it has its own car fleet and is engaged in the selection and hiring of drivers. The company was founded by Yauhen Kukushkin. Having studied his biography, "Bureau" can state that the company "Soyuztrade", as well as Kukushkin himself, are connected with Dmitry Lukashenka.
Yauhen Kukushkin was a pupil of SDYuShOR "Yunost" — one of the most titled hockey schools in Belarus, which has produced many stars of national teams, NHL and KHL. In the early 90s, he even tried to make a professional career in hockey, but then went into the state apparatus.
Thanks to the Alliance of Belarusian Investigators, journalists found out that in the early 2000s, Yauhen Kukushkin held the position of inspector in the committee on securities under the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus. But in 2002, he was detained by KGB officers for attempting to sell military state secrets about the activities of the defense enterprise "Peleng" to "Russian businessmen". Kukushkin planned to earn 4.3 thousand dollars from the deal.
Kukushkin was sentenced to 5 years under Article 433 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus — receiving illegal remuneration by a state official. However, as "Bureau" found out, the ex-official did not serve time but received the same 5 years conditionally. In 2004, when the probationary period ended, his criminal record was expunged.
After the scandal with the criminal case, Yauhen Kukushkin returned to sports. Already in the early 2010s, he played for the amateur hockey team "Rubizh" as a defender. There is no information in open sources that he held any administrative position in the club, however, we found out that the legal entity of "Rubizh" was linked to Kukushkin's phone number.
In parallel with this, he developed women's hockey in Belarus — he was the general director of the only women's hockey club in Belarus, "Pantera". The team existed from 2010 to 2013 and was disbanded due to lack of funding.
For at least the last four years, Yauhen Kukushkin has held the position of chairman of the board in the amateur hockey team "Shchyt" (Shield). In 2025, he was also listed in "Shchyt" as a 0.25-time coach — his monthly salary was 1860.6 Belarusian rubles. It is in this team that his partner from the student merch shops plays — Dmitry Lukashenka. The registration address of the legal entity "Shchyt" is in the adjacent office to "University Traditions", in the BNTU dormitory on Nezalezhnastsi Avenue, 63.
The third company that owned "University Traditions" is CJSC "Oblrapsagraservice". This legal entity is engaged in the production of oils and oilcake. The ownership structure of the CJSC does not provide for the disclosure of ultimate beneficiaries, however, "Oblrapsagraservice" is linked to the email address [email protected].
This address was used for the registration of several legal entities associated with Yauhen Kukushkin and Dmitry Lukashenka: "University Traditions", "Amateur Club "Shchyt"" (Shield), and "Sport-System". The latter owned a share in "University Traditions" before "Oblrapsagraservice". From 2011 to 2023, "Sport-System" was at various times owned by the legal entities of hockey clubs "Rubizh" and "Shchyt", which are also associated with Kukushkin and Lukashenka.
Thus, all three owners responsible for the creation and sale of merch for Belarusian universities are directly or indirectly connected with the middle son of Alexander Lukashenka.
"Bureau" studied the financial statements of "University Traditions" to assess how profitable the idea of dressing Belarusian students in merch from their alma maters was. Unfortunately, the editorial office does not have documentation for the period when the shops were opened. However, financial data starting from 2023 are also very indicative.
In 2023, the revenue of "University Traditions" amounted to 52 thousand rubles, and the net profit was only two thousand rubles.
In subsequent years, the financial situation significantly worsened. In 2024, the company already received 10 thousand in revenue and losses of 5 thousand rubles. In 2025, "University Traditions" finished with an income of 6 thousand rubles and a net profit of 3 thousand rubles.
It seems the owners realized the business idea had failed even earlier. The shops' Instagram accounts stopped being updated since 2022. In February 2024, "University Traditions" closed all stationary points and registered the option of trading without using a retail object — now orders, if any, are made via personal messages on social media.
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