Who Owns Tanks Blitz? East-Games, Lesta & Platform Rules

Who really owns Tanks Blitz now? A RU/BY-only case study in state ownership, platform rules, and transparency

Related coverage: Industry News.

Editor’s note (Nov 19, 2025): Right-of-reply requests were sent to Lesta, IT Technologies, East-Games, Apple, and Google. No substantive responses were received by the deadline. We will update this article in full if any party provides a statement or correction.

This piece is based on public records, official sanctions lists, and app-store pages available as of 17 November 2025, plus corporate documents available online. It does not claim that any person or company named here has broken the law or violated sanctions. Instead, it lays out what can be seen on paper — and the questions that raises for platforms like Apple and Google.

How can you tell who actually owns the games you download — and whether those entities are state-controlled or subject to sanctions? This article from Fix Gaming Channel uses Tanks Blitz (available in Russia and Belarus) as a case study of how ownership and publishing routes can look on paper — and what questions that raises for platform policy.

• A game group that has been nationalised by the Russian state.
• A new “management” company, also state-owned, led by the son of a sanctioned Russian state-media executive.
• An Uzbek publisher fronting Tanks Blitz on Apple/Google regional storefronts while presenting itself as part of that same group.

None of this automatically means “sanctions breach” or “illegal”. But it does raise fair questions about how platform rules are being applied — and how transparent this all is to players.

From Wargaming’s exit to a new owner

In 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Wargaming announced it would leave Russia and Belarus. Local operations were spun off into a group built around Lesta, which took over regional versions of major titles and related projects, including mobile spin-offs.

By mid-2025, court filings and Russian business reports described a nationalisation process: the Moscow court ordered stakes in several Lesta entities transferred to the state, and Russia’s Federal Agency for State Property Management — Rosimushchestvo — was listed as owner of Lesta assets in Russia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.

IT Technologies: the state’s management layer

In July 2025, a Moscow company called IT Technologies JSC appears in registries. Public records show it was founded 1 July 2025; its general director is Boris Dobrodeev (former CEO of VKontakte/VK Group); Rosimushchestvo holds 100% of its shares (26 Aug 2025); and it is listed as a management company for several Lesta entities. In short: the same state agency that owns Lesta also owns the management company above it.

At the time of writing, IT Technologies, Lesta, and Boris Dobrodeev do not appear on UK, EU, or US sanctions lists.

The Dobrodeev connection and sanctions context

Boris Dobrodeev is widely reported as the son of Oleg Dobrodeev, long-time head within state broadcaster VGTRK. Oleg is designated under the UK’s Russia sanctions regime (see the UK consolidated list on gov.uk). Sanctions are personal legal tools: they apply directly to named individuals and to entities they own or control under specific thresholds. There is no indication that Boris, IT Technologies, or Lesta are themselves listed.

UK/EU guidance encourages firms to consider “ownership and control” when assessing sanctions risk — who ultimately benefits or can influence decisions — not just the brand name on a storefront. That lens is relevant when a state-owned group is managed by the son of a sanctioned state-media executive.

How Tanks Blitz appears on regional app stores

For players in supported regions (Russia/Belarus), the title appears on Apple’s App Store and Google Play under East-Games LLC, not a prominent Lesta label.

Availability note: As of November 2025, Tanks Blitz is listed on Apple and Google storefronts in Russia/Belarus; availability may differ or be restricted outside those regions.

On those pages (mid-Nov 2025): the provider/developer name is East-Games LLC (Uzbek address), and the copyright line credits Lesta Games in recent years. East-Games’ own materials present the company as part of an “international conglomerate” linked to Lesta and focused on mobile development and live-ops support.

Taken together, the picture looks like this:

• Rosimushchestvo owns Lesta’s group entities in Russia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.
• IT Technologies — 100% owned by Rosimushchestvo and led by Boris Dobrodeev — manages that group.
• East-Games LLC (Uzbekistan) publishes Tanks Blitz on mobile stores and credits Lesta in its materials.

Again: that’s an ownership structure, not a legal verdict.

What Apple and Google say about sanctions — in general

Apple and Google require compliance with export-control and sanctions laws in their developer agreements and have previously restricted apps in response to sanctions developments. The relevance here is not a proven breach, but that a regionally popular mobile tank shooter — distributed via Western platform infrastructure in supported regions — now sits within a state-owned group. That naturally raises questions for anyone following how platform rules are applied.

What this article is not claiming

• No public listings for East-Games LLC, IT Technologies, Lesta, or Boris Dobrodeev on UK/EU/US sanctions lists (as of 17 Nov 2025).
• No public decision from Apple or Google stating that Tanks Blitz or East-Games LLC violates platform policies.
• No allegation here that any named party has committed crimes, breached sanctions, or broken specific clauses of Apple’s or Google’s agreements.

What this piece does do: (1) document the ownership and management structure; (2) note the state ownership/management context; and (3) show how the mobile publisher presents on regional storefronts.

Open questions for platforms and players

1. How do Apple and Google handle state-owned developers that are not themselves listed by sanctions authorities?
2. Did either platform conduct a specific sanctions/ownership review for Lesta, IT Technologies, or East-Games LLC?
3. How should “ownership and control” guidance be applied in cases like this?
4. What level of transparency should players expect in supported regions — and what about analogous cases elsewhere?

Related video — discussion clip

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Right of reply

Fix Gaming Channel sought comment from Lesta, IT Technologies, East-Games, Apple, and Google regarding ownership structures and policy application. At the time of writing, no substantive responses had been received. If any party provides comment or correction, we will update this article in full.

Why it matters beyond one tank game

• Large live-service games can act as soft-power tools and revenue engines; who owns them is not a neutral detail.
• Apple and Google are gatekeepers of distribution; consistent rule-application matters when ownership moves into state hands.
• Players, developers, and smaller publishers can all get caught where geopolitics and games collide.

The goal here is simple: put the publicly available pieces about Lesta, IT Technologies, East-Games, and Tanks Blitz in one place, in language ordinary players and industry people can read — and ask questions that haven’t been answered out loud.

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