Early in 2022, a cartoon series called Bunny Brothers aired on a state-run Russian TV channel whose programming is geared toward young children.
The Moscow studio behind the series was Safir Animation, whose general producer, director, and sole owner is Arash Doroudi, a 57-year-old Iranian national who is fluent in Russian.
Doroudi is linked to another studio with a similar name that produces an entirely different kind of content: videos about Iranian military developments for Russia's Defense Ministry.
"To attract Russian viewers today, you need action," Doroudi told a Russian podcaster when asked about his business strategy.
Animated children's films and videos about Iran's military aren't the only business ventures Doroudi is involved in, according to findings by Systema, RFE/RL's Russian investigative unit.
He's been accused by Russia's Federal Security Service of trying to export military gyroscopes. According to a leaked security agency memo, Doroudi was also identified as an adviser to an entity connected to Iran's presidential administration.
Arash Dorudi (highlighted) is seen visiting an aerospace exhibition in the Moscow region in February.
Doroudi's business circles and shadowy activities also overlap with Sohrab and Ushang Gayrat, two Afghan brothers whose father was a diplomat at the Afghan Embassy in Moscow.
Sohrab took over Doroudi's former film studio, which later released a full-length animated film that ended up being a minor hit in Russia.
The Afghan brothers have been linked to their own activities far from the world of film, including helping Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen obtain Russian weapons. The Houthis are designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.
Doroudi did not respond to questions sent by RFE/RL to his Telegram account or messages sent to his studio or other companies' Telegram accounts.
Sohrab Gayrat did not respond to questions from RFE/RL. Ushang also declined to answer questions, saying only, "I work as a translator in Russia."
From Moscow To Sanaa
Dolphin Boy, a light-hearted animated tale about a boy who is raised by dolphins, grossed nearly 95 million rubles ($1.17 million) when it was released in Russian theaters in the spring of 2022. Produced by a studio called Sky Frame, which is headed by Sohrab Gayrat, the film's soundtrack got a boost from a pop singer, whose catchy tune helped propel its popularity.
The film also got a showing on non-Russian platforms: Netflix, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime aired Dolphin Boy. Lionsgate, a major California-based studio, has acquired the English-language licensing rights.
The animated film Dolphin Boy was a minor hit in Russia. The film has been distributed outside of the country as well, by Apple TV, Amazon, and other platforms.
On April 4, 2025, at a screening of the film hosted by a Moscow charity, Sohrab made an appearance. In a post on Facebook, the 39-year-old made a wry comment, in Persian, about some of the photographs of him that appeared in public.
"News agencies that spend their days and nights occupied with groundless fantasies, please use my good photo in your ridiculous news about me," he wrote.
It wasn't entirely clear what he was referring to. But two days prior, Sohrab and Sky Frame Studio, along with Ushang Gayrat, appeared for the first time on a sanctions list issued by the US Treasury Department.
The department accused Sohrab and his company of helping Houthi forces in Yemen obtain Russian weapons. They were also accused of arranging shipments of allegedly stolen Ukrainian grain destined for Yemen, and elsewhere.
Sons of a former first secretary of the Afghan Embassy in Moscow, both Sohrab and his brother Ushang are Russian speakers and graduates of the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations, or MGIMO.
Sohrab took over at Sky Frame on March 11, 2021, a day after Doroudi left to found Safir Animation.
The photo that Sohrab Ghayrat requested be "used in the news."
In the sanctions announcement, Sohrab and Ushang were accused of arranging the weapons and oil shipments at the behest of a top Houthi official living in Iran, Saeed al-Jamal.
Al-Jamal allegedly runs a network of front companies and vessels that smuggle Iranian fuel and oil products to customers in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. According to US authorities, a significant portion of the proceeds from these sales are channeled through a network of intermediaries and exchange offices to Houthis in Yemen, as well as to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds Force and Hezbollah, the Lebanese group designated as a terror organization by the United States.
Sohrab Ghayrat's archived page on the Kabuljan social network.
There's another connection between the Gayrat brothers and alleged oil or weapons smuggling to the Houthi rebels: About a decade earlier, they were involved in another short-lived venture, an IT company billed as the "the first independent Afghan social network."
That venture, which lasted only a year, included another man, Kamaluddin Nabizadu, who previously was the No. 2 diplomat at the Afghan Embassy in Moscow.
Nabizadu himself ended up on the Treasury Department's sanctions list in 2022, three years before the Gayrat brothers.
The department accused him of secretly arranging shipments of Iranian oil to Russia and channeling millions of dollars back to Iran. The efforts were done, US authorities said, in "coordination with senior levels of the Russian government and intelligence services."
Ukraine Grain
Before March 13, if you clicked on the main home page for Sky Frame, you'd find multiple links: contact information, promotions of the studio's other projects. You'd also find, somewhat easily, a link to a separate company called Triticum Group Commodities.
The vessel Zafar, which was allegedly used to smuggle stolen Ukrainian grain.
On its LinkedIn page, Triticum describes itself as "an international trading company specializing in the import of grain crops to the Middle East." The profile also listed a single employee: Adelina Usta, a Ukrainian-born woman living in Moscow.
Systema contacted Usta for comment March 13. She refused to answer questions, then proceeded to remove Triticum's profile on LinkedIn and deleted her Telegram account. On that same date, the Triticum website went offline, as did the Russian and English websites for Sky Frame Studios.
They reappeared the following day.
According to corporate registries, Triticum's office address is located in the Neva Towers, in the Moskva-Citi skyscraper complex.
Another company is registered at the same address: Kolibri Group, whose CEO is Sohrab Gayrat. Ushang is listed as the owner. One of the company's main activities, according to corporate records, is the buying and selling of grain.
In addition to weapons procurement, the US Treasury Department also accused the Gayrat brothers of organizing at least two shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain to Yemen in summer and autumn 2024.
Bunny Brothers
Aside from their overlapping time at Sky Frame, the scope of the relationship between Sohrab Gayrat and Doroudi is unclear. But Doroudi has been in Russia, involved in various business ventures, for years.
A native of Mashhad, Iran, Doroudi received Russian citizenship in 2014, according to leaked records, and his registered home address has been listed as Krasnogorsk, in the Moscow region, since 2020.
Doroudi founded Safir Animation in April 2021, a month after leaving Sky Frame, the studio behind Dolphin Boy.
The poster for Bunny Brothers
Corporate records show his company Safir LLC is linked to Safir Animation and other ventures. Safir LLC, which describes itself as "a reliable bridge between Russia and the Middle East," says it offers services including the shipment of medical equipment, gas turbine units, and telecommunications technologies.
Bunny Brothers -- the animated 26-episode children's series that was shown on the state TV network Karusel -- wasn't a hit for Safir Animation; viewers said they liked the visuals but criticized the show as being vapid, lacking substance.
In January 2025, a hacker organization calling itself ARES Group published a series of documents on its Telegram channel. The purported author of the documents was the the Federal Security Service, Russia's main domestic intelligence agency, known widely as the FSB.
According to the documents, Doroudi was identified as an adviser to the Center for Progress and Development, an entity connected to the Iranian presidential administration.