A cognac factory. A prominent football team. Supermarkets. Gas stations. Banks. A textile factory. A television station. A hotel. A mobile phone network. A casino. A caviar and sturgeon farm. A series of cryptocurrency mining sites. The expanding empire of the Sheriff holding would probably be one of the largest and wealthiest on the periphery of Europe – if someone could actually calculate the true value of this secret business, writes the Financial Times in an article signed by Polina Ivanova, in which the conglomerate dominating Transnistria is described as the „company that controls a country.”
However, now Sheriff is facing its most serious challenge since its inception. The war in Ukraine has cut off the holding’s access to the port of Odesa and to free Russian gas, vital sources for the empire built by oligarch Viktor Gusan. And for Chisinau, there is now an opportunity to change the status quo in a region that has caused problems for years, as reported by the Financial Times.
Stories with gangsters like in movies
The Sheriff story begins in the turbulent years following the dissolution of the Soviet Union when Transnistria did not want to remain in an independent republic alongside Chisinau. Moscow’s troops never left the region, thus gaining a strategic point in Eastern Europe.
The separatist Transnistria retained some of the symbols of a Soviet state – monuments dedicated to Lenin and the hammer and sickle on the flag – but not the planned economy. The industrial center quickly became a battlefield as local organized crime bosses and Russian gangsters fought to seize valuable factories, such as steel mills, cement factories, and textile producers, as reported by the Financial Times.
„All the Moscow crooks flooded us in waves,” recalls Valeri Litkai, who was the first so-called „foreign minister” of the separatist region. „People were quickly eliminated. At night – bang-bang, liquidation, and done. No one investigated. We used to joke: we open a swimming school in the Dniester River,” as the watercourse had become a place for dumping corpses, he recounted.
Initially, the new separatist republic allowed each factory to have its own private militia. But for maintaining order, it came to rely mostly on powerful police chiefs, Litkai remembers. Among them was Viktor Gusan, at that time a senior officer in the police in Tiraspol. „When the power transfer to the police began, Gusan was exactly where he needed to be,” says Litkai. Thus was born a „police firm.”
Together with his business partner Ilia Kazmali, Gusan began to seize profitable business opportunities – initially venturing into the alcohol and cigarette trade. As a sign of respect for their roots, they named the company Sheriff, after the American sheriffs.
Free rein for smuggling
From its inception, Transnistria used its ambiguous legal status to build a vast commercial operation that connected the European market with the new free trade area in the post-Soviet space. Goods entered the Ukrainian port of Odesa from the Black Sea, less than 100 km from Tiraspol, and were registered as transiting through Transnistria through smuggling schemes that took advantage of the customs and tax loopholes of a gray territorial zone.
So many cigarettes entered Transnistria in a year that every inhabitant of the tiny republic, including newborns, would have had to smoke 12 packs a week to match the official volume of imports, wrote Kommersant in 2011. It was a profitable trade.
The Sheriff business began to flourish gradually. Soon, it exported everything from floral-print sheets to the historic Kvint brandy and managed a huge fish farm, where the albino beluga produced rare white caviar, priced at $20,000 per kilogram, which also became important for the EU.
But the model also had a price. Any serious competitor was quickly brought down through inspections, confiscations, or threats. Many entrepreneurs chose exile. In Transnistria, everyone knew that to get a job even as a truck driver at Sheriff, you needed connections and influence.
The rise to power of Gusan and Kazmali was not without difficulties. Gusan survived a car bomb attack, but three other men in the vehicle were killed. Even today, Gusan, who now single-handedly controls the company, maintains a low profile. He does not give interviews and rarely appears in public. It is known that there are only two photos of him on the internet. FT was unable to contact him for comment, and Sheriff did not respond to questions sent by email.
A huge advantage: free Russian gas
The rise of Sheriff was fueled by a huge advantage: free Russian gas in exchange for loyalty to Moscow. Sheriff received it at symbolic prices, produced cheaply, and exported to Europe with huge profits. The money was reinvested in the local empire. Kvint brandy reaches the EU labeled „Made in Moldova.” At the same time, Sheriff built a state-of-the-art stadium and turned its team into a regional symbol.
However, the war in Ukraine changed the rules of the game. The vital export port of Odesa was blocked. The border with Ukraine closed. For the first time, all Sheriff goods were forced to pass through Moldova, under the control of the authorities in Chisinau. This winter, Ukraine also stopped the transit of Russian gas, leaving Transnistria without power for weeks on end. Industrial production plummeted, exports decreased, and the local government declared an „economic state of emergency.”
In this context, even the enigmatic Gusan, who avoids public appearances and of whom only two photos are known to exist on the internet, was forced to come forward. He personally donated two million dollars to the local budget – a gesture interpreted as a signal to Moscow that he is willing to fight for the survival of his empire.
Meanwhile, ordinary people feel the shock. Prices have risen, jobs have been reduced, and many cross the Dniester to Moldova for cheaper medicines and medical services. In villages, the elderly complain that Sheriff „steals everything.” But there are also voices that acknowledge that without the company’s investments, Transnistria would have remained a forgotten territory.
A paradox and an opportunity for change
Today, the paradox is evident: although historically dependent on Russia, Transnistria conducts over 80% of its trade with the European Union. And Moldova, with massive support from Brussels, is trying to pave its way towards EU accession by 2030. For Sheriff, for Tiraspol, and for the entire enclave, the moment of truth is approaching.
There is an opportunity for change. On September 28, Moldova will vote in the parliamentary elections that President Maia Sandu presented as a decisive moment in the modern history of the country: a choice between a European future or a return to Russia’s embrace. Brussels pays special attention to this aspect, committing to provide nearly 2 billion euros to support Moldova’s efforts to join the EU, and EU leaders have become regular visitors to Chisinau.
However, Moldova’s plan to join the EU by 2030 seems difficult to reconcile with the authoritarian enclave, where dissent is suppressed, opposition activists are exiled or imprisoned, and Russian troops are hosted. „Without resolving the conflict? I don’t believe that,” says Vasili Shova, Moldova’s former chief negotiator in the three-decade peace process between Chisinau and Tiraspol.
With the leadership of Transnistria under pressure, cheap Russian gas in much smaller quantities, and Moscow exhausted by the war in Ukraine, those involved in the peace process argue that the moment is ripe for change and must be seized, including by the Sandu government. For Shova, the conflict has long been sustained by external political interests rather than ordinary people.
Many enclave residents now have Moldovan passports, receive pensions from Chisinau, commute to work across the Dniester, and travel freely in the EU, a gradual integration that many in Moldova see as a sign of hope that the frosty relations could thaw.
But any chance of reaching a real solution also depends on the numerous broader geopolitical interests at stake. And it also depends on Sheriff. Can the company envision a future within the European bloc?
In any case, after the elections, „it is a decisive moment,” says a Western official. What happens next will be a crucial test for the enclave and its oligarchic governance, concludes the Financial Times.