According to information from the non-governmental organization IDFI, the number of Russian companies in Georgia has reached a historical maximum. The organization's report states that "large Russian companies enter the Georgian economy in many cases through offshore or intermediary companies, which makes it difficult to determine who exactly is behind each company."

Additionally, there are instances where companies owned by individuals with dual Georgian-Russian citizenship or solely Russian citizenship are not recorded in the official data of the Statistics Service. This also contributes to inaccuracies regarding the number of Russian companies operating in Georgia and their fields of activity.

According to research conducted by IDFI, it is impossible to trace both the legal and actual addresses of thousands of Russian LLCs and industrial entrepreneurs because they often use the same legal addresses for registration. In many cases, these addresses are either nonexistent or consist of only a few square meters of territory.

"Large Russian companies can be found in almost all sectors of the economy, including energy, telecommunications, industry, and gambling. According to information provided by the National Statistics Service, as of June 1, 2024, about 37,400 companies owned by Russian citizens are registered in Georgia (among them, 494 are dual citizens of Georgia). More than 30,000 of these companies were registered after 2022. Of the registered companies, 20,885 have active status in Georgia, indicating that 8.1% of them are connected to Russia.

The database of companies registered by Russian citizens also partially includes companies founded by individuals with dual Georgian-Russian citizenship. Specifically, a total of 494 companies are founded by persons with dual citizenship, of which 100 have active status. Among them is "Georgian Dream" LLC, which engages in sound recording and music publishing activities. The company is 100% owned by Bera Ivanishvili, the son of Bidzina Ivanishvili, and according to the latest extract from the public register, dating back to 2018, Bera Ivanishvili is registered as a dual citizen of Georgia and Russia," the report states.

It is also clear that information about companies established with the participation of dual citizens is not fully represented in the database. For example, among the large companies is "K and Georgian Spirts," owned by Vakhtang Karichashvili, a dual citizen of Georgia and Russia, who has been sanctioned by the government of Ukraine. However, according to the business register data, he owns several other companies that are not reflected in the database. For instance, he is the founder of Bolero & Company, one of the largest groups of alcoholic beverages in Georgia, and also owns 100% of GVMT Group LLC and 50% of Alliance and Company LLC.

In the management of companies linked to Vakhtang Karichashvili, he actively become financiers of "Georgian Dream." The management of these tracked companies has donated a total of 556,000 GEL to the ruling party. Additionally, the company's subsidiaries receive millions of GEL from the state in the form of simplified purchases, primarily made within the framework of vintage subsidies. In total, simplified purchases worth 30 million GEL will be recorded for the tracked LLCs associated with the company.

Ukraine included Karichashvili on its list of sanctioned individuals in 2023. The sanctions were imposed based on his business ties to Bidzina Ivanishvili's cousin, Ucha Mamatsashvili, who is also on the sanctions list in Ukraine. Vakhtang Karichashvili co-owns "Melikishvili Inns" LLC with Mamatsashvili (50%-50%). The company is constructing a 10-story hotel on Melikishvili Avenue in Tbilisi. Together with Ucha Mamatsashvili, Karichashvili also owns a company based in Britain—GWP Wines and Spirits Limited.

According to the report, 89% of active companies of Russian origin registered in Georgia are small in size, with medium and large companies making up only 0.5% of the total. In 10.6% of cases, the economic size remains unknown. Additionally, 93% of these companies are founded by individual entrepreneurs. Russian citizens most frequently choose Tbilisi to register their companies; nearly half of the legally registered companies and individual entrepreneurs with active status are located in Tbilisi. In terms of fields of activity, most companies are engaged in IT, while activities related to real estate and construction also attract Russian entrepreneurs. Since 2022, they have registered 134 real estate agencies, and 213 companies founded by Russian citizens are operating in the buying and selling of residential and non-residential buildings and services.

However, according to the study, the registration of hundreds of entrepreneurs at the same address suggests that Russian citizens obtain legal status fictitiously—presumably in exchange for paying a specific fee to the property owner. This practice makes it difficult to trace Russian companies in Georgia. It should be noted that the statistical information generally does not specify the physical addresses of entrepreneurs. Most of them have fictitious locations registered as their legal addresses. However, there are cases where individual entrepreneurs have the same territory registered as both their legal and actual address, while hundreds of other individuals are also registered at that address. In total, out of 20,886 companies with active status registered by Russian citizens in Georgia, only 20% (1,664) have an actual address.

"Based on the tracked legal addresses, we can assume that at least every second Russian entrepreneur registered in the country has a fictitious legal address," the report states.