Mikhail Sergeevich Lyapin

Full name in Russian: Михаил Сергеевич Ляпин

Russian tax id: 100123069453 

Russian national id num: 716015051

Legal status: Deported from Kenya, September 25, 2025; UK-sanctioned May 5, 2026, designation GIM0060

What He Did

Lyapin arrived in Nairobi in March 2017 and launched AfrikaLoan, a smartphone-based microloan app targeting low-income Kenyans, as part of a parent company called MoneyRock. He gave interviews to Russian business press about his methods, documenting in his own words how he viewed the country he was operating in.

Forbes Russia published his interview under the headline: "Bribes, HIV and 'expensive whites': how a Russian builds business in Africa." In it, Lyapin made racist remarks about his Kenyan employees: "These people are often unreliable and childish. Their unreliability manifests itself in the fact that you could agree on a specific time, but they'll do it much later. And their childishness manifests itself in the fact that they always expect something from you, like children from their father."

In the same article, he warned other Russian entrepreneurs that "a white person in Africa is perceived as an ATM on legs" - and advised: "Remember, the main local tradition is to screw you over." On HIV, he said: "There are problems with HIV and AIDS. They are solved very simply - you need to control your libido." He also told Forbes that a white man in Africa could get a competitor deported - "close his entry into the country" - for a bribe of $400.

On his Telegram channel he posted more racist content, framing the entire question of who to hire in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa in racial terms. The white manager, he wrote, is "always an investment in a black box. One day he's building processes, the next his wife whispers to him that she has nothing to do in Nairobi and it's time to go home." At $5,000 to $12,000 per month, such a person eventually "is no longer a person, he's a Land Cruiser." The black manager, by contrast, costs two to three times less and has better access to local networks - but "it's like buying a mango at the market - there's no guarantee it won't be rotten." His conclusion: "If you find a black market manager who's not stupid, not greedy, and doesn't play his own game, stick with him. He's rare."

A Russian online publication, Pro Business, ran a story about him under the headline: "We already know how to squeeze money out of the native." In a 2023 interview with Siberia.Realities (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty), he described himself as operating like a pirate in an unregulated frontier: "You can really do anything here - if you're white."

That public profile - interviews, a Telegram channel, a registered fintech business with 24 staff - ran alongside a different operation. Kenyan police described him as a key figure in a recruitment syndicate sending Kenyans into Russia's military.

Victims were promised a salary of 200,000 Kenyan shillings per month (~$1,500). To secure placement they were required to pay between 1.65 million and 2.31 million Kenyan shillings (~$12,700 to $17,800) in fees covering visas, travel, accommodation, and logistics. Those who could not pay within 35 days were charged a one percent daily penalty. Initial deposits ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 shillings (~$385 to $770).

A Kenyan co-conspirator, Edward Kamau Gituku, coordinated the processing of victims scheduled to travel between September and October 2025. He was arrested, arraigned, and held for ten days of investigation.

On September 25, 2025, DCI detectives from the Transnational Organised Crime Unit raided Great Wall Apartments in Athi River, where 21 Kenyans were found being processed for travel to Russia. Lyapin was arrested the same evening and booked at Muthaiga Police cells. Kenyan media reported he was deported; he departed Kenya at 14:13 that day via Air Arabia to Sharjah, UAE, connecting onward to Russia. The Russian Embassy disputed the characterisation, claiming he left "in accordance with his previous plans" after being interrogated at DCI offices.

The Russian Embassy in Nairobi issued a statement denying his employment: "Contrary to the reports of a number of media outlets, Mr Lyapin has never been an employee of Russian governmental bodies and does not work at the Russian Embassy in Nairobi." The embassy said it had provided "necessary consular and legal assistance" and ensured his "legal rights were not violated." Kenyan authorities described him as linked to the embassy; the embassy disputed this characterisation.

On May 5, 2026, the United Kingdom designated Lyapin under the Global Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Persons Sanctions Regulations 2025, making him subject to asset freezes and travel bans within UK jurisdiction.

Sources: The Standard Kenya, The Eastleigh Voice, Forbes Russia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty