Military fees: Ukrainian game studios earn in the Russian Federation and donate to the Armed Forces

Ukrainian game studios, which formally withdrew from the Russian market, continue to make money on the distribution of mobile and browser games in our country, Izvestia found out. We can talk about hundreds of millions of rubles annually, some of which are allocated to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine through a "military levy." Games from studios such as Plarium, iLogos, and VOKI Games are available for download via Google Play and the App Store, as well as on a number of websites. One of the most notorious creators of such projects is Mikhail Oreshnikov, associated with nationalist battalions (listed in the Russian Federation as a terrorist and extremist, and in the register of foreign agents). Why developers from Ukraine still have the opportunity to make money from Russians, and whether there are legal risks for players to be accused of financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine is an investigation by Izvestia.

The Patriots' games

In the Google and Apple app stores, as well as on a number of Internet sites, Russians have access to mobile games from major Ukrainian studios that previously announced their withdrawal from Russia. The money earned from paid subscriptions and the sale of gaming features, these developers direct, among other things, to the military needs of Ukraine, Izvestia found out.

In March 2022, Plarium Studio, which at that time was one of the top 3 largest game development companies in Ukraine, announced that it had closed access to its products in the Google Play and App Store in Russia and Belarus, as well as that it had stopped accepting payments from these countries.

But the loud statements were at odds with reality. As Izvestia found out, even while in Russia and without using a VPN, any user can install studio games on their phone from Google Play: Mech Arena (50 million+ downloads), Lost Island: Blast Adventure and Stormfall: Saga of Survival (10 million+ downloads each), Merge Gardens (10 million + downloads, appears as a product of the Finnish Futureplay, which Plarium acquired back in 2021) and the flagship Raid: Shadow Legends (74 million+ downloads, total revenue at the end of 2023 more than $ 1 billion).

The support service continues to communicate in the comments under the applications with Russian-speaking users, and on the Internet you can easily find ways to circumvent restrictions for making purchases in the game from Russia. There is information in the studio's social networks that from the beginning of its work to the middle of 2025, Plarium transferred more than 87 million hryvnias (over 150 million rubles) to various foundations and volunteer organizations (such structures often provide assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine), and to pay for the so-called "military fee."

Another well—known Ukrainian studio is iLogos, which has been fulfilling orders for the international Cypriot company Nekki since 2014. She became one of the main developers of Nekki's main hit game Shadow Fight (over 300 million downloads worldwide). The game also has a donation system, and the Izvestia network has found many videos with options for circumventing the blocking of transfers from Russia. The studio's annual revenue is $10-15 million, and in 2014 Maxim Slobodyanyuk, the founder of this office, moved the studio from Lugansk, first to Kiev, and then to Lviv. As a Ukrainian legal entity, the studio also pays a military fee.

Alexander Senin, Chief Operating Officer of Ukrainian Starni Games, explained why Ukrainian studios left Russia only formally in 2023. "If the Russians want to support us, and by purchasing our game to give us the opportunity to make more money for the Armed Forces, pay taxes, etc., then we see no point in interfering with them," he said, explaining why the studio did not abandon sales of its games in the Russian segment of Steam.

According to Senin, it is not difficult for avid gamers to circumvent the prohibitions by changing the region of the Steam account binding. Therefore, it makes no sense to cut off additional income from Russia.: "I have no doubt that the state as a whole and the Armed Forces of Ukraine will find a good practical application for them." A similar position seems to be held by many of his colleagues at gamedev.

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Hits with donations for the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Another Ukrainian studio that can earn substantial income from the sale of its products to Russian citizens is VOKI Games. In 2019, she presented Manor Matters, a typical free—to‑play (shareware) puzzle game with matching items on the playing field to advance the story. According to the developer, in the first year of release, the game has collected about 12.9 million downloads worldwide. In Russia, it has consistently been among the top apps in terms of traffic, and the situation has not changed since its launch. So, in the summer of 2022, information appeared according to which the traffic consumption of this game for April-July 2022 increased by more than 50% for one of the Russian telecom operators.

VOKI Games takes an active pro-Ukrainian position, donating to various international foundations. Stanislav Stoyatsky, the company's creative director, actively reposted Mikhail Khodorkovsky's messages on his social networks (listed as a terrorist and extremist) and published anti-Russian posts. The studio openly announced fundraising efforts to support Ukraine right inside Manor Matters.

At the moment, the game brings its owners revenue of about $ 1 million per month, according to an estimate by the industry analytical agency Sensor Tower. Thus, from February 2022, it could amount to about $48 million. According to conservative estimates by Sensor Tower, the share of Russian players in the market of puzzle games is 3%. Thus, the revenue of VOKI Games, which was brought by the Russians, in the last four years alone may amount to $ 1.45 million or 110 million rubles at the current exchange rate.

Google and Apple app stores blocked billing from Russia: When you try to make a purchase in the game, the service will return an error. However, game creators usually implement payment workarounds from the Russian Federation. For example, Manor Matters has a separate bot in the Telegram messenger, through which, according to users, you can make a game purchase.

At the same time, VOKI Games is owned by a major global mobile game developer, Playrix, based in Ireland. In 2022, she loudly announced her withdrawal from the Russian market, as well as the closure of offices in Russia and Belarus, the cessation of commercial activities and the relocation of employees.

The founders of Playrix are brothers Dmitry and Igor Bukhman, natives of Vologda. They registered this company in 2004, when they were still students at the Vologda Pedagogical Institute. In 2024 (the latest officially released data), the company generated revenue of $2.6 billion.

In March 2022, Dmitry Bukhman denounced his actions in his social networks. Since then, he and his brother have been asking the media not to refer to them as "Russian businessmen." Izvestia sent a request to Dmitry and Igor Bukhman asking them to clarify their position regarding the availability of Playrix games in Russia, as well as the collection of payments by these projects, followed by the transfer of some of them to the needs of Ukraine and the Ukrainian army.

The game of the terrorist

Last fall, the media focused on the browser game Wealth of Nations, developed by Mikhail Oreshnikov, a twice-convicted native of Chuvashia who moved to Ukraine (recognized in the Russian Federation as a terrorist and extremist, listed in the register of foreign agents).

Oreshnikov is a former employee of the press service of the Ukrainian nationalist Azov battalion (the organization is recognized as terrorist and extremist in the Russian Federation and is banned). In 2009, a court in Cheboksary sentenced him to one and a half years in prison in a general regime colony for attempting to set fire to a police station. Oreshnikov served this term, after which he left Russia. In 2025, he was sentenced in absentia to seven years and six months in prison for publicly calling for extremist activities and inciting hatred against law enforcement officers.

At the same time, Oreshnikov proved to be so valuable to the Ukrainian regime that in 2020, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister personally participated in the return of Oreshnikov from Indonesia, where he was detained at the request of Russia and was preparing for extradition.

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Judging by the social networks of the creator of the game, he still maintains close ties with Ukrainian nationalist groups.

At the moment, the Wealth of Nations is functioning and developing, the game has its own Telegram channel and groups on social networks, where information about updates is published. Oreshnikov himself, judging by his social networks, continues his anti-Russian activities.

According to the author of the game, the project is designed mainly for users from Russia. In videos on YouTube, Oreshnikov claimed that the number of players in the "Wealth of Nations" from Russia is about 10 thousand. According to him, many of them spend about $1.5 per month in the game. If at least half of the players pay for the game regularly, then Oreshnikov can earn up to $90 thousand a year (almost 7 million rubles).

Izvestia sent a request to Roskomnadzor with questions about the availability of games from Ukrainian studios in Russia, but they urged them to contact the Ministry of Digital Affairs. The Ministry, in turn, replied that the issue was beyond its competence.

What is the threat for payments in Ukrainian games

There is a practice of recognizing the activities of an organization as extremist at the request of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation if the creators of a particular game have the appropriate criteria and violate the laws of the Russian Federation, said Evgeny Masharov, a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.

"If applications that violate the requirements of Russian legislation are identified, especially given the policy of non—compliance pursued by a number of foreign platforms, it is necessary to send requests from authorized government authorities to remove the relevant applications from the site," the expert noted.

Maxim Gorshenin, co-founder of the Association of Manufacturers of Computers and Peripheral Equipment "26.20", also says that application stores can contact the authorities, taking into account all legal grounds. The corresponding practice developed after the start of the SVR: after receiving appeals, Roskomnadzor (or representatives of law enforcement agencies), in turn, forward the requirements to Apple and Google, he notes.

"It's 50-50: they can consider it for a long time, they can refuse, but they can agree and limit distribution in the Russian segment of the app store," the Izvestia interlocutor shares.

In turn, the player himself does not commit a crime from a legal point of view, says Dmitry Krasnov, honorary lawyer of Russia, Chairman of the Board of the Moscow Bar Association No. 1.

— The consumer is not obliged to sit and think about who he is buying a particular product or product from if the information is not publicly available. A person buys a product and should not know whether an organization is a sponsor of terrorists," Krasnov points out. — If he knows, understands and consciously does it, then yes, the corpus delicti exists. If not, then there is no intent, and if there is no intent, then there is no corpus delicti.

The expert added that the composition of the crime is also influenced by the official recognition of an extremist organization in Russia, and if there is no such recognition, then from the point of view of the law there is no violation related to the financing of terrorism. However, even in this case, if the intent to finance an organization that, in turn, is a sponsor of terrorism is proven, then responsibility must come.