Due to his close relations with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, the Council of the European Union imposed sanctions on him,[2] as did several non-EU countries.

[8][9][10][11] In 2012–2013, Interservis bought bitumen refinery in Minsk region and increased its share in Amkodor machinery factory.

[13][14] In 2013, Varabei became a co-founder and co-owner of Bremino Group (with Aliaksei Aleksin and Aliaksandr Zaitsau [ru]), which operates several logistics complexes and a special economic zone in Orsha district, created by Lukashenko's decree.

Varabei and his wife were not mentioned in the new version (original version of the page was saved by the Internet Archive[17])[22] On 19 February 2021, National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine ordered to nationalize Soviet-built oil product pipeline Prykarpatzakhidtrans [uk] (Ukrainian: Прикарпатзахідтранс; Russian: Прикарпатзападтранс — Prikarpatzapadtrans), which was owned by Mikalai Varabei and a German resident, allegedly associated with Viktor Medvedchuk.

[23] On 9 August 2021, Varabei was added to the SDN list by the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

[24] A BYPOL investigation has uncovered that Varabei had gifted a vintage ZIS-110 worth about half a million dollars and a Tesla Model S to Lukashenko.

[10] He is allegedly connected with Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk and with NT Marine company which sells Russian coal to Ukraine.