The Ugly Duck (TUD Toy) is a Dubai-based collectible art toy brand. It releases collaborations with foreign artists and Western brands (in December 2024, it released a collaboration with Coca-Cola), opens stores in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and South Korea, and participates in contemporary art exhibitions in Milan, Paris, and Seoul. At the same time, its co-founder is blogger and businessman Dmitry Portnyagin, who travels to the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia and funds the Russian military. And The Ugly Duck is registered in Kazan and had a rather active 2024 in Moscow, but did not tell foreign media about it.
DTF Magazine tells more about the brand and its founder’s activities during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We are also publishing this material in English so that foreign brands and foundations can understand what is behind the image of a successful Dubai-based company with a truly impressive list of collaborations
BRIEFLY ABOUT DMITRY PORTNYAGIN
In 2008, he moved from Russia to China and registered a logistics company in Guangzhou, where he lived for the next five years. In 2016, already in Moscow, Dmitry launched a YouTube channel called ‘Transformator’. In his videos and the book series of the same name (which was also published in Ukrainian), he shared insights on building a successful business. Currently, the channel, which has 1.44 million subscribers, has been renamed ‘Portnyagin’, and all videos have been deleted except for a documentary about his new travel project, NEVEREND.
Before the full-scale war, Dmitry Portnyagin repeatedly visited Ukraine to give talks. In 2018, he became a partner of ‘Transformator Club Ukraine’, launched by the educational company PRIZMA, and also spoke at the ‘Business Concentrate 2.0’ conference, which brought together 2,500 entrepreneurs from across the country. The head of the Ukrainian club, Artem Maidan, announced its closure six months after launch. The reason was a YouTube video posted by Portnyagin about the war in Syria. That video has since been deleted.
PORTNYAGIN IS A SUPPORTER OF THE ‘SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION’ AND HAS VISITED OCCUPIED UKRAINIAN TERRITORIES
For context, Dmitry Portnyagin, Andrey Veselov, and Yan Palmachinskyi are listed in RBC Companies as the owners of Club 500, a closed community of Russian businessmen. This community also manages the ‘Bolshoe delo’ charitable foundation. How do they support Russia’s war against Ukraine?
In March 2024, an interview with Dmitry Portnyagin aired on the Russian propaganda channel ‘Journalists of Russia’. Portnyagin sat in front of a sign reading ‘Portnyagin TUD’, featuring a black duck figurine, alongside Dmitry Makarenko — editor-in-chief and a member of both ‘putin’s Team’ and the ‘People’s Front’. They discussed, among other things, Portnyagin’s decision to join the ‘People’s Front’ in order to support Russian occupying forces.
‘For the past two years, we’ve been helping the guys one way or another — there were some ad hoc initiatives from Club 500 residents, and we always tried to join the humanitarian convoys that were being assembled. We’ve received a lot of thank-you letters and everything else, — he says. — But those were sporadic efforts, and we wanted to do this on a permanent basis — and with people who have been doing it a lot, for a long time, and professionally’.
Since December 2023, Dmitry Makarenko has been publishing posts thanking Portnyagin for his financial support of the Russian military. Makarenko, in particular, cooperates with the all-Russian public movement ‘People’s Front’, which purchased the necessary equipment for the Russian military using funds transferred by Portnyagin and Veselov. DTF Magazine found at least 16 messages about money transfers from Dmitry Portnyagin and Andrey Veselov.
In Makarenko’s first post from December 2023 states that Portnyagin donated 20 million rubles to support the Russian army. Portnyagin, according to published screenshots of correspondence in the same post, stated that he is now in the UAE, but ‘strongly desired to return to russia to help the homeland in any possible way’.
In January, Makarenko recorded a video expressing gratitude for a car donated by Portnyagin and Veselov to the occupiers. According to him, they were then ‘in Zaporizhzhia’, and in the video, the propagandist called on Dmitry to return to Russia.
In February and March 2024, Veselov visited the headquarters of the 136th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, again bringing ‘gifts’ from himself and Portnyagin. This Russian brigade participated in both Chechen wars, the invasion of eastern Ukraine, including the battles for Debaltseve and Luhansk Airport, and is now involved in the full-scale war. According to data from the Ukrainian service DeepState, in January – February 2024, the brigade was located near the village of Ilchenkove in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
In March 2024, Portnyagin returned to Russia, from where he went to the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region. He recorded a video, which is now only available on the VKontakte page. In it, Dmitry shares his impressions of the trip almost to the line of contact, mentioning a drone that flew directly at them and how it was shot down from a car window.
He also mentioned his plans to provide further assistance to the Russian troops.
‘Since the end of last year, I started to act on a larger scale, and in January 2024, I realized that it was necessary to create a foundation that would unite all entrepreneurs in a big cause, in our common ‘Bolshoe delo (Big Cause)’’.
According to Instagram information, the ‘Bolshoe delo’ foundation is under the patronage of Club 500. One of its stated goals is ‘providing humanitarian aid to soldiers, orphans, families of participants in the special military operation, and socially vulnerable segments of the population of the new subjects of the Russian Federation’. Within Russia, these territories refer to the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions. Putin signed a decree in October 2022 to include these areas in the Russian Federation’s constitutional list of subjects.
As of early April 2025, Dmitry had deleted all mentions of the ‘special military operation’ (SMO) from his page (although some of them are cited in this article), but the video from his trip to the occupied Ukrainian territories is still available in the Club 500 group.
PORTNYAGIN DECLARES SUPPORT FOR THE WAR, WHILE TUD TOY TOURS GLOBAL EXHIBITIONS
In the spring of 2024, searches were conducted at Portnyagin’s home and the Club 500 office. As he was returning from the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, he was detained in the Rostov region as part of a criminal case investigation ‘on tax evasion and legalization of funds obtained by criminal means’. He paid 64 million rubles and spent over six months under house arrest with a ban on internet use, and in April 2025, the court extended the restrictions on ‘certain actions’ for another six months.
During the first court hearing in 2024, a representative of the Investigative Committee stated that Portnyagin holds a permanent residency permit in the UAE and had ‘expressed support for Ukraine, [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyi, and published related posts on social media. He also voiced support for Navalny’.
The blogger denied this, saying: ‘I advocated for peace and friendly relations between our nations, but that was before the start of the special military operation’.
He added: ‘I provide assistance to participants of the special military operation, before my detention I was in the special military operation zone, I support my country, and I have never supported Zelenskyi or Navalnyi’.
After being released from house arrest, Portnyagin took part in several Club 500 events. He also appeared at a ‘charity’ evening held by the Orthodox project ‘12 Churches’ on December 15. Since the beginning of 2022, this project has been working, in particular, in the occupied part of the Donetsk region, also helping Russian soldiers. For example, on December 23, an Instagram post was published with a report of the purchased items, which among other things included ‘10 Mavic 3PRO drones’ for the 1st Slavic Brigade — an illegal armed formation that has been fighting against Ukraine since 2014.
While Portnyagin was financially supporting the Russian occupation army and publicly expressing support for the war against Ukraine, TUD Toy in 2024 released collaborations with Chupa Chups, the Frida Kahlo Corporation, and reportedly with Coca-Cola and the Jean-Michel Basquiat Foundation. The brand also entered the South Korean market. How did this happen — and what do we really know about Portnyagin’s business project?
KAZAN-BASED BRAND WITH STORES IN THE US, UAE AND SOUTH KOREA
The collectible art toy brand The Ugly Duck, inspired by the fairy tale ‘The Ugly Duckling’, was founded in 2022 in Kazan. Its co-founder and copyright holder, according to RBC Company, is Dmitry Portnyagin. However, the company’s Russian origins did not prevent it from creating a series of collaborations with famous foreign artists, foundations, and large companies over the past three years. The brand has also opened stores in the USA, several cities in the UAE and South Korea, with plans to enter the Chinese market.
After the first Sample Drop collection of 200 black duck figures, released in November 2022 — the ninth month of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine — TUD Toy released collaborations with such contemporary American artists as Punkmetender (2022), Harif Guzman (2024), and CLOGTWO (2024). The collaboration with the latter was presented at the Pop Toy Show in Singapore. That same year, TUD Toy took part in Milan Design Week, and currently — since February 26, 2025 — is featured at the Seoul Living Design Fair in Seoul.
DTF Magazine sent an inquiry to the artists with information about the Russian founder of the brand. However, at the time of publication (after waiting six weeks for a response), only one of them had replied.
Patrick Guetta, founder of The Fine Art Gallery, which represents the artist Punkmetender, said that the collaboration with TUD Toy began before the war. ‘A PR agency contacted us, not them [TUD Toy] directly. We don’t know the owner’, he added. When asked whether they plan to reach out to TUD Toy to stop the sale of the collaborative figurines and the use of the artist’s name in the brand’s communication, he replied: ‘We will look into and review the matter’. On April 9, the artist and TUD Toy announced in a joint post that the figurines from the collaboration had sold out.
In addition to artists, TUD Toy has released figurines that are presented on their Instagram as official collaborations with brands, organizations, and celebrities — for example, a figurine dedicated to Michael Jackson.
At the same time, it’s important to note that Coca-Cola, the Jean-Michel Basquiat Foundation, and Pantone have not made any joint posts or mentioned a collaboration with TUD Toy on their social media — although Pantone does follow TUD Toy on Instagram. This contrasts with Frida Kahlo Corporation and Chupa Chups (Perfetti Van Melle Licensing, which owns Chupa Chups, made three Instagram posts about the collaboration with The Ugly Duck. — Note from DTF Magazine), as well as Mike Tyson, who appeared in a photo with the figurine. DTF Magazine also reached out to the brands and artist foundations for comment but received no response.
In 2024, the launch of TUD Toy Korea was marked by the installation of a two-meter-tall Ugly Duck figurine at the Fairmont Hotel in Seoul.
BETWEEN DUBAI AND MOSCOW: THE DOUBLE LIFE OF TUD TOY
Why does the Russian brand have such an impressive list of collaborations with Western companies and artists and such a wide geographic reach? One of the reasons is positioning. DTF Magazine analyzed the brand’s social media, websites and communications, which shows that The Ugly Duck presents itself as an international company from Dubai.
For example, foreign media outlets such as Grazia, Hypebeast, HypeArt, AD Middle East, and others write about The Ugly Duck as a Dubai-based brand without mentioning its Russian origin. Often, these articles are marked as sponsored content (i.e., advertising) or published without an author’s byline. And on the official English-language website of TUD Toy, the Supported by section contains the logos of these media, suggesting endorsement by international media.
At the same time, if you go to the AD Middle East website, for example, the description of TUD Toy uses the wording from the brand’s official website: ‘A Dubai-based brand producing limited-edition collectible toys that bridge the gap between interior design and art’.
RUSSIAN TEAM OF TUD TOY
According to the RBC Companies profile, which was last updated on May 5, 2024, Portnyagin remains the legal owner of TUD Toy, registered in Kazan.
The job search site HeadHunter currently has four vacancies at TUD Toy all requiring work in Moscow. These positions include a driver with a personal car, an HR professional, and sales managers, including those for international sales. Additionally, some employees of The Ugly Duck (TUD) have specified Russia as their location on LinkedIn.
Co-founder Roman Chalyi lives in Dubai, but he studied in Moscow and in Kharkiv.
From January to September 2024, the PR department of TUD Toy was headed by Anna Kuparova — her contact information is listed on the English-language website in press releases about collaborations. In March 2024, she boasted on Instagram (the post has since been deleted, but you can find it in the screenshot above) that she had obtained UAE residency. On June 28 of the same year, she posted a photo with the caption ‘The first TUD Toy event in Russia’.
Kuparova previously held identical positions to those at TUD Toy in Moscow. For example, she was the head of the communications department of the Russian brand Sorelle, communications director at the PR agency R.S.V.P, head of the PR department at the Moscow department store ‘Tsvetnoi’.
Portnyagin’s LinkedIn profile does not indicate any connection to TUD Toy, and the page has not been updated since 2013.
TUD Toy is described as a Dubai-based brand in its profile on Maison&Objet in Paris, one of the largest design exhibitions, in which the brand participated in 2024.
In November 2023, Portnyagin gave an interview to L’Officiel Arabia as the founder of The Ugly Duck, but without any mention of his nationality or the company’s Russian origin. It was an advertising article with photographs by a Ukrainian photographer.
On Instagram, TUD Toy is represented by two accounts — in English and Korean. The English-language account answers questions from Russian-speaking users in English, and there are also no hints of the company’s Russian roots (although the TUD Toy Korea profile in October 2024 included a post about the brand’s participation in the Cosmoscow Contemporary Art Fair in Moscow).
However, in addition to active work with international brands and artists and participation in exhibitions from Milan to Seoul, The Ugly Duck has an equally active life in Russia, kept out of the spotlight in foreign media.
TUD TOY EXHIBITIONS IN RUSSIA
In 2024, The Ugly Duck held its own events and participated in a series of exhibitions in Russia: The Ugly Duck presented a collaboration with Frida Kahlo Corporation, created a brand zone for Superstep for the OK Awards, exhibited objects at the Best Interior Festival, the 50th Russian Antique Salon & Lifestyle ‘Interior Art’, as well as at the Cosmoscow Contemporary Art Fair in Moscow.
The company’s founder, Dmitry Portnyagin, who lived in the Emirates from March 2022 to 2024, where he developed not only TUD Toy but also other business projects, including the SIBERIA bathhouse chain, also attended Cosmoscow.
TUD Toy has a Russian website and a Telegram channel (with over three thousand subscribers) that publishes brand news, including those related to exhibitions and projects in Russia. For example, the collaboration with Moscow artist Erik Musin, who created Coca-Cola cup-shaped vases, was only announced on the Telegram channel. However, it remains unclear whether this is an official collaboration with the American brand (DTF Magazine also received no response to its inquiry) and whether it is part of the TUD Toy partnership (considering the TUD Toy and Coca-Cola release presented in December 2024), as there is no mention of this on Coca-Cola’s official social media, and the artist is known for frequently referencing brand logos in his work.
2025 — PORTNYAGIN’S COMPANY TUD TOY CONTINUES TO EXPAND
In 2025, TUD Toys continues to participate in exhibitions worldwide. For example, in January, TUD Toys was showcased at Lifestyle Week in Tokyo, and from late February to early March — at the Seoul Living Design Fair in Seoul. On the event websites, the figurine brand is still presented as Dubai-based company.
In March 2025, a separate Instagram page for TUD Toy USA was launched, and in April, a pop-up store was opened at the Hyundai Department Store in Seoul.
Meanwhile, in Russia, TUD Toy continues to promote its product by giving toys to local influencers, including Philipp Kirkorov, who is sanctioned in Ukraine.
