The operator of Putin's bathyscaphe made a fortune selling prosthetics to Russian occupiers

The Russian prosthetics manufacturer “Bionika 2.0,” whose primary beneficiary is Sergey Fokin, generated over 1 billion rubles (approximately $12.3 million) in revenue in 2024–2025 by providing services to wounded veterans of the war against Ukraine. 

Fokin is the director of the Center for Underwater Research at the Russian Geographical Society and gained notoriety in 2019 as the operator of Vladimir Putin’s bathyscaphe; he is also a relative of Yury Kovalchuk, a businessman close to the Kremlin. 

The company’s revenue grew from 252 million rubles (about $3.1 million) in 2024 to 830 million rubles (about $10.2 million) in 2025, and orders are secured with the assistance of the “Orion” Foundation, led by Ksenia Shoigu. Overall, the prosthetics market in Russia has grown rapidly due to hundreds of thousands of severely wounded soldiers who have undergone amputations, and the Russian Federation’s federal budget expenditures for these needs rose to 98 billion rubles (about $1.2 billion) in 2026.

Source: “Vot Tak.”

Demand for prosthetics in Russia in 20245 rose by 53% compared to 2023. Residents of the aggressor country particularly often lose their arms.

Russian authorities plan to establish rehabilitation centers for participants in the war against Ukraine who have lost limbs. Such facilities are to be established in each of the eight federal districts of the Russian Federation. No exact opening dates have been announced yet, but one center is already operating at the Russian State Social University (RSSU) in the Moscow region.