From showroom to warlord How a Tesla Cybertruck made its way from the U.S. to Ramzan Kadyrov’s driveway
After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, American luxury cars were supposed to be off-limits to sanctioned individuals like Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Western restrictions ban the import of vehicles worth more than $50,000. And yet, in August 2024, Kadyrov appeared in Grozny behind the wheel of a brand-new Tesla Cybertruck — decked out with a mounted machine gun on the roof. Novaya Gazeta Europe traced the truck’s journey from Tesla’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California, to the streets of Chechnya — by way of the U.S. state of Georgia and Kazakhstan. Meduza shares an English-language version of the outlet’s reporting.
📍Chechnya, Russia
In August 2024, Ramzan Kadyrov posted a video on his Telegram channel featuring a Tesla Cybertruck outfitted with a mounted machine gun. Kadyrov himself is at the wheel, driving through the empty streets of Grozny as triumphant music plays in the background. “It’s a good car,” says the head of Chechnya. “The guys will be happy.” The video then shows him, draped in a cartridge belt, climbing onto the back of the vehicle, gripping the machine gun mount, and declaring that the truck will soon be heading to the front line in Ukraine.
In the caption, Kadyrov claims the Cybertruck was a personal gift from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and he thanks him directly.
Customs data available through Russian brokers show no record of any Tesla Cybertruck officially imported into Russia. However, Novaya Gazeta Europe obtained access to the the database of Rosstandart, Russia’s technical standards and certification agency. Any foreign-made car entering Russia must receive a Vehicle Structural Safety Certificate (SBKTS). The database includes the vehicle’s VIN number, technical specifications, the name of the certificate holder, and their registered address. According to Rosstandart, at least 21 Tesla Cybertrucks have been certified in Russia since 2022 — and only one is registered to a resident of Chechnya.
That vehicle is registered to one Shamil Amiyev, whose official address is in a small village in the Gudermessky district. His WhatsApp profile photo shows Kadyrov presenting an award to the republic’s health minister, Adam Alkhanov — who happens to be Kadyrov’s son-in-law.
A check through GetContact — an app that shows how a person’s number is saved in other users’ phones — reveals several saved names for Amiyev’s number: “Shamil assistant,” “Shamil Alkhanov’s assistant,” “Shamil Adam Alkhanov,” and even “Shamil Kadyrov.”
The VIN number of the Tesla registered to Amiyev allows the vehicle’s journey from the United States to Chechnya to be traced — beginning in Marietta, a city just outside Atlanta, Georgia.
📍Marietta, Georgia, U.S.A.
At the intersection of two highways near a local air base stands a modest, two-story townhouse, clad in beige vinyl siding and partially faced with brick. Two American flags flutter near the roofline. Most of the windows are covered with closed blinds. A sign at the parking lot entrance warns that the property is under video surveillance.
According to business records, this unremarkable building is the listed address of All Stop Motors LLC. Since February 2022, the company has shipped hundreds of vehicles to countries bordering Russia — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Customs records reviewed by Novaya Gazeta Europe show that the cars are purchased by private individuals — ostensibly ordinary citizens living in those countries. Sometimes, the same person buys several high-end vehicles in a single month. But the cars rarely stay long. Within days or weeks, they are shipped onward — into Russia. In some cases, the route is even more circuitous.
On August 29, 2024, for example, a Kazakhstani citizen named Zhuldyzym Shaimaranova received a brand-new Tesla Cybertruck from All Stop Motors. Less than a week later, on September 3, the vehicle was processed through Chinese customs — Shaimaranova had sold it to a Chinese company. Just three days after that, the same vehicle crossed into Russia and arrived in Ulyanovsk.
A month earlier, on July 23, Shaimaranova had received another Tesla from the same U.S. company. Three days later, that vehicle ended up with Shamil Amiyev in Chechnya.
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Novaya Gazeta Europe found no visible sign of All Stop Motors at its official address in Marietta. At midday on a weekday, the parking lot was empty. The building’s entrances were plastered with signage for companies nominally operating there — roughly 75 in total, judging by the nameplates — nearly all seemingly connected to the auto industry. But no one answered the door, and no one responded to knocks.
Still, the building was unlocked. Inside the narrow entryway stood two worn leather sofas, a few chairs, and a coffee table stacked with junk mail. A yellow note taped next to the door handle read: “Lock it. Homeless people.” Framed landscape prints and vases of artificial flowers did little to brighten the space. A thick layer of dust coated nearly every surface. The carpet was stained and clearly hadn’t been cleaned in some time. The air smelled musty.
Novaya Gazeta Europe’s correspondent called into the silence: “Hello, is anyone here?” There was no reply.
All Stop Motors was incorporated in 2020. Georgia’s corporate registry doesn’t disclose the company’s owners, only the name of its registered agent: Alex Pierce. That same name appears as the agent for another business involved in freight transport.
The building listed in corporate documents as Pierce’s office was, until recently, owned by a woman named Alla Kotova. She’s listed as the director, secretary, and registered agent of a company called Auto Baltic Shipping, which describes itself as a leader in international auto transport.
Novaya Gazeta Europe made multiple attempts to contact All Stop Motors using the phone number listed on Google Maps, but no one answered. An email sent to the company bounced back — either the address never existed or it had been deactivated.
Reporters were also unable to find contact information for any of the affiliated companies.
Finding no one at the registered address for All Stop Motors, Novaya’s correspondent crossed the street to a nearby restaurant. The waiter there knew nothing about the ghostly building across the way. He was unfamiliar with the war in Ukraine, the sanctions against Russia, or the attempts to circumvent them. Asked whether he knew who Ramzan Kadyrov was, the waiter paused, then asked if he was bald. When told Kadyrov isn’t, the young man shrugged and said, “All the Russians I know are bald.”
📍Almaty, Kazakhstan
Zhuldyzym Shaimaranova is 31 years old. She doesn’t hold any high positions, nor does she own or manage a large business. She’s registered as living in a Soviet-era apartment block on the outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan. Yet in 2023 and 2024, she imported two BMWs and three Teslas into the country. None of the cars stayed for long — all were soon re-exported to Russia. One of them ended up with Shamil Amiyev in Chechnya. Shaimaranova did not respond to questions from Novaya Gazeta Europe sent via Instagram.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of Western sanctions, Moscow legalized “parallel imports” — allowing goods to enter the country without the manufacturer’s permission. That change quickly reshaped the import structures of Russia’s neighbors. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, which did not adopt the same strict sanctions as Western countries, effectively became transit hubs for sanctioned goods en route to Russia.
According to UN Comtrade data, vehicle imports in Kazakhstan in 2023 were five times higher than in 2021. In Uzbekistan, they tripled. In Kyrgyzstan, they rose eighteenfold. Insiders in the auto market previously told Novaya Gazeta Europe that cars are often imported under the names of private individuals, helping dealers avoid customs duties and other taxes. That workaround has caused problems for end buyers in Russia, who sometimes find themselves on the hook for additional duty payments months after their vehicles have arrived.
Shaimaranova’s Instagram suggests she works at WWTech, a company that sells and services vehicles in Kazakhstan. WWTech has partners in the United States — where its vehicles originate — and in Moscow. Some of the company’s social media posts openly reference shipments to Russia.
All Stop Motors, the Georgia-based exporter, has shipped vehicles to other Kazakhstani citizens as well. Many of them are involved in the auto trade and make no secret of doing business with Russian clients.
Between 2022 and January 2025, Russia’s Rosstandart registry recorded at least 4,500 safety certificates (SBKTS) issued for Tesla vehicles. Of those, 21 were for the Cybertruck model — the same type Ramzan Kadyrov showed off in his now-infamous video. Novaya Gazeta Europe didn’t find any politicians or government officials among the other Cybertruck owners.
Elon Musk, for his part, denied having anything to do with Tesla shipments to Russia.
“Are you seriously so retarded that you think I donated a Cybertruck to a Russian general?” Musk wrote on his X account in August 2024, shortly after Kadyrov posted the video of himself driving the armed pickup through Grozny.
A month later, Kadyrov claimed on Telegram that Tesla had remotely disabled the vehicle. Still, the next day he announced that two more Cybertrucks would soon be sent to the front in Ukraine. Then, in December, he admitted he’d lied — the trucks weren’t a gift from Musk after all.
