In August, it became known that Vladimir Matveev, an electrical engineer on the tanker "Volgoneft-212", which sank in December 2024 in the Black Sea with a cargo of fuel oil, had collected in court overdue wages from the shipowner "Kama Shipping", whom the Russians are apparently now making a "scapegoat" for the corresponding environmental disaster.
In this story, when Russian security forces and courts decided to "cover up" the obvious negligent and illegal actions of their own maritime administration, port authorities and classification societies, which issued deliberately false certificates of conformity for “Volgoneft-212“, the amount of the collection is remarkable - 733.4 thousand rubles in... five months after the incident, which is approximately $ 1,800 per month.
These funds that Matveev received for working on an obviously dangerous vessel are clearly lower than the salaries of tanker electromechanics in world shipping, while the attitude towards the crews of the ships of the Russian tanker fleet itself deserves a separate study of the situation.
Although hundreds of seafaring companies operate under the control of the Russian Federation, they have a different dimension in the system of Russian maritime business. Some companies still do not hide their kinship with global maritime structures, while others are direct branches of Russian oil concerns.
The latter category includes the sanctioned “Gazpromneft Shipping“ LLC from St. Petersburg, tax number 7805480017, another LLC from St. Petersburg “Transpetrochart“, tax number 7825484443, and the Moscow LLC “Transneft-Service“, tax number 7710940202 with a branch in Krasnodar.
But other companies often combine their own shipping activities and the recruitment of crews for tankers, combining the forced publicity of their own services for hiring sailors with careful concealment of their own beneficiaries and names, and indeed of their role in the system of the Kremlin's oil imperialism.
Of course, these companies do not have any public statements about their connections with the global maritime business, and therefore the real place of these structures in the work of the “shadowy“ Russian fleet deserves special attention.
In this dimension, the activities of “BF Tanker“ LLC (ООО “БФ Tanker“), tax number 7838503686, as a company that appeared in April 2014 and still uses the name “Balt Fleet Tanker“, also with the corresponding trademark, as well as its own number in the International Maritime Organization, IMO 4206557, is noteworthy.
This company, with an authorized capital of 49.8 million rubles, registered in St. Petersburg with a branch in Moscow, claims to be a key carrier of oil and oil products from the ports of the... Baltic Sea along the inland waterways of Russia, including Moscow and Yaroslavl and other Russian “logistics centers“, for which it uses both its own and “foreign fleet under the Russian flag“. It is noteworthy that the company declares the presence of two licenses, namely for the transportation of dangerous goods by inland waterways and sea and for the relevant loading and unloading activities.
“BF Tanker“ does not declare licenses for hiring sea crew, but actively carries out crewing activities, publishes contacts of its own operators for recruiting personnel on social networks and has numerous vacancies in the relevant specialized resources, supposedly for the company's ships.
For example, in January 2025, a vacancy was announced on online platforms by “BF Tanker“ for a watch sailor on a tanker with a sailing area in the Black, Azov and Mediterranean Seas, with the candidate's previous professional experience not even being required as mandatory. Russian sailors write in the relevant maritime conversations about “sad“ and “unpleasant moments“ with salaries on “BF Tanker“ ships, noting “low wages“, as well as that “the white part of the salary is small“.
Indeed, in 2022 In 2008, the company offered an income of up to 200 thousand rubles for a senior assistant captain, which at the then exchange rate was no more than 2,200 dollars, and this clearly does not correspond to such a position on the world market.
It is obvious that tankers with this structure are filled mainly by candidates who do not respond to more commercially attractive offers, including such “sea“ wolves“ who are unqualified or have no experience, and will complain about working conditions and salaries in the future only on social networks.
The company's tankers really actively serve not only and not so much the Baltic transport as the Black Sea ports of the Russians, and therefore it is obvious that they are clearly not limited only to “inland waterways“, the company declares.
For example, in April 2023 alone, crude oil and petroleum products were transported from Russian ports in the Black and Azov Seas by nine tankers, whose owner and shipowner is declared as “BF Tanker“, under the Russian flag with an average tonnage of up to 8 thousand tons each.
Among other things, “Balt Flot 11“ IMO number 9804239 and “Balt Flot 12“ with IMO number 9804241 transported petroleum products from Taganrog to Samsun, Turkey, “Balt Flot 14“ with IMO number 9804215 made a similar voyage from the port of Kavkaz to Limassol, Turkey, “Balt Flot 15“ with IMO number 9804227 traveled from Azov to Alexandria, Egypt, “Balt Flot 16“ with IMO number 9829069 traveled from Temryuk to Toros, Turkey, “Balt Flot 17“ with IMO number 9829071 traveled from Rostov-on-Don to Yalova, Turkey, “Balt Flot 18“. IMO number 9838199 from the port of Kavkaz to Iskenderun, Turkey, “Balt Flot 19“ IMO number 9838204 from the port of Kavkaz to the Turkish Toros and “Balt Flot 20“ IMO number 9846237 from Azov to Egyptian Damietta.
In the summer of 2025, “Balt Flot 11“, which was renamed without changing its flag to “Daria“, IMO number 9804239, entered the same Samsun and transported Russian oil both along the Black Sea and the Volga. Its current owner is hidden, but it is very likely that this is the sanctioned Russian “Gosudarstvennaya transportnaya lysingovaya kompaniya“ (“GTLK“) from Salekhard, tax number 720261827. And “Balt Flot 12“, renamed “Alexandra“, with a probable owner of “AR Vector“. A JSC from St. Petersburg, established two years ago, tax number 9721201366, in August 2025 transported oil from Volgograd to the Sea of Azov.
At the same time, a group of similar tankers under the flag of the aggressor and controlled, like the tankers described above, by the “Russian Maritime Register of Shipping“, are still owned by “BF Tanker“.
An example of this is “Balt Flot 1“ with IMO number 9751872, which operated in Russian ports on the Baltic Sea in the summer of 2025, and “Balt Flot 2“ with IMO number 9751884, which in August 2025 returned to the inland waterways of Russia after a completely illegal stop in the Ukrainian Azov port of Mariupol, captured... by Russia.
„Baltic Fleet 3“ with IMO number 9751896 on the same dates transported Russian oil from Rostov-on-Don to the Black Sea, a similar trip was made by „Baltic Fleet 6“ with IMO number 9751937, the same transport from Azov was also made by „Baltic Fleet 4“ with IMO number 9751913, and their „sister“ ship „Baltic Fleet 5“ with IMO number 9751925 was returning from Azov to Volgograd at that time.
In this regard, we will add that in various sources the company “Inok TM“ LTD was declared as the ISM manager of the six tankers described “BF Tanker“, to which we will return later. In the meantime, let us add that in 2021 the aforementioned tanker “Balt Flot 11“, then managed by “BF Tanker“, entered the port of Burgas, where it carried out installation work on a ballast water treatment system worth 374 thousand euros.
We should add that the main recipient of Russian oil in Bulgaria at that time was the “Lukoil Neftokhim Burgas“ plant, which subsequently caused a corresponding sanction reaction. In this regard, it is not surprising that since 2022, the managers and founders of “BF Tanker“ have been hidden in “official Russian registers“, and the website of the company, which ordered promotional photo shoots of “tanker crews“ back in 2019, is not working.
However, we managed to find out that the founder of “BF Tanker“ is currently the Moscow-based “Global Group“ JSC, established at the end of 2022, tax number 9722032449, with a director in the person of Murmansk resident Irina Galkova. The holder of the register of shareholders of “Global Group“ is JSC “Registrar of VTB“, tax code 5610083568, which operates from the corresponding sanctioned Russian bank “VTB“.
The current CEO of “BF Tanker“ is hiding as carefully as possible, but after the company was founded, he was obviously “purely nominal“ Dmitry Olersky, but since June 2018 this position has been held by the former chief accountant of the company Evgenia Putraim, whose father, Alexander Putraim, “coincidentally“, was the head of the “Marine Environment Management Systems“ department of the same “Russian Maritime Register“. Shipping“.
The role of Igor Furman as head of the personnel department of “BF Tanker“ and Sergey Barchukov as technical director of “BF Tanker“ is also recorded, as Barchukov was previously assistant general director for technical operations of the tanker fleet in the same aforementioned LLC “Inok TM“ (LLC “Inok TM“) from St. Petersburg, tax code 7841458962.
Among other things, Evgenia Putraym periodically appears in the Russian regional press during the acceptance of newly built tankers at shipyards, the construction of which under the RST-27 project was ordered by “BF Tanker“. from the structure “Okskaya Sudoverf“ JSC (shipyard “OKA“), located in the town of Navashino on the Oka River.
That is why the role of the Russian classifier in these processes is key, and the "family contract" of the father and daughter Putraim apparently allowed them to "turn a blind eye" to many things, both in terms of technical and financial issues.
It is noteworthy that the construction of tankers for the "BF Tanker" in Navashino, as well as for the RST-54 project at the "Krasnoye Sormovo" plant, was carried out under a contract with "Lukoil" for the transportation of petroleum products of this oil corporation, which at the time of In 2016, transported up to one million tons of petroleum products per year with ships of the "BF Tanker". It was on these global contracts that Sergey Chaplygin, then chairman of the board of directors of “BF Tanker“, who had been the general director of Litasco SA since 2010 before the formation of this structure, advertised himself ten years ago.
This subsidiary of the same “Lukoil“ was an oil trader registered in Switzerland, which was then “reborn“ in Dubai in the form of “Litasco Middle East DMCC“, where it received British sanctions in July 2025.
Thus, not only trade routes and long-term contracts, but also personnel issues are closely connected “BF Tanker“ with “Lukoil“ and therefore it is not surprising that the same Chaplygin recently “appeared“ in Russian glossy publications as the owner of exclusive apartments on the 42nd floor of “Moscow City“, the traditional “nest“ of many Russian tycoons.
But the most interesting thing in the whole story with the owners of “BF Tanker“ is the mention of this company, with its IMO number 4206557, in the European Commission Implementing Decision 2024/411 of 30 January 2024. But it is not a list of sanctions, as one might logically assume, but a list of shipping companies in the context of “maritime emissions under the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading system“, in implementation of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Union.
As stated in Decision 2024/411, “one Member State shall be responsible for each shipping“, and for “BF Tanker“, as it turns out, the relevant responsible EU country is Estonia. What exactly are the links between this corporation, which is part of the Russian “shady“ tanker fleet, and the Estonian beneficiaries, is not clear from any open sources, but obvious explanations of the situation should undoubtedly be provided by the Estonian authorities.
Even more interesting is the activity of the above-described LLC „Inok TM“, about which Russian sailors themselves write in chats discussing the employment of tankers „BF Tanker“: „this office is headed by „Inok“, which has, let's say, bad reviews“. As it is not difficult to guess, in the „official registers“ of Russia the directors and founders of „Inok TM“ are hidden just as deeply as those of „BF Tanker“.
However, from some sources it was still possible to find out that the general director of „Inok TM“ at least recently it was Igor Fomin, and the founders are Rishat Bagautdinov and Olga Grishchenko. At the same time, “Inok TM“ is the legal successor of OOD “Inok Karelia Company“, whose founders from 2016 to 2019 alternated with the same Bagautdinov, as well as Vladimir Kasyanenko, Anatoly Belozerov, Viktor Olersky and Boris Vasiliev.
But the most interesting thing is that in 2017 a Cypriot offshore company, the same “Vozhe Holding Limited“, with registration number “Epsilon“. 220195, with an address in Nicosia, where individual companies from the “Panama Papers“ are noted, and in this line of co-founders there is also a mention among these co-owners of “Inok Karelia Company“, a Belgian limited liability company “Inok“ with an address in Antwerp.
In open sources at this address Verbindingsdok Oostkaai 5-7, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium, there really is a shipping management company “INOK NV“, IMO number 1858497, and its website, listed in local aggregators, “by a strange coincidence“ redirects the visitor to the website of the Russian limited liability company “Inok“. ТМ“.
At the same time, “Inok ТМ“ is mentioned in some Russian sources as “Inok N.V.“ and at the same time the structure “Inok TM OOD“ with IMO number 4032143 is listed, together with “BF Tanker“, in the same Implementing Decision 2024/411 of the European Commission of 2024; the only difference is that the responsibility for the activities of “Inok TM“ does not lie with Estonia, but with Latvia. This IMO number of “Rusko OOD“ “Inok TM“ is confirmed by the information of the same “Russian Maritime Register of Shipping“, where this company is certified and its internal number is 37164.
In this regard, the activities of the aforementioned offshore company “Voje Holding Limited“ in lawsuits regarding “floating crane, tug and barge leasing agreements“ in the courts of England and Ireland against sanctioned entities “GTLK Malta Four Ltd“ and “GTLK Europe DAC“, linked to Russian authorities in the shipping sector, is no longer surprising.
These cases, for example the current English CL-2024-000583, have become a typical attempt to circumvent sanctions by creating artificial commercial disputes, as both “Voje Holding Ltd“ and its Cypriot “sisters“ “Pola Maritime Ltd“, “Capstans Holding“ “OOD“ and “Walbridge Ltd“ have the same beneficiaries as the sanctioned “GTLK“.
At the same time, these companies are trying, through artificial lawsuits initiated by them, to present themselves as “adversaries“ in order to transfer sanctioned property from one owner to another, in particular, using retroactively executed “lease agreements“, on which “property claims“ and the like are based.
This practice is not new to the Russians; Suffice it to point to the Russians' attempt to remove the tanker “Mechanic Pogodin“ with IMO number 9598397 from its detention in Kherson by the Ukrainian authorities in 2018 due to the fact that its owner, the Russian company “VEB Leasing“, was on the national sanctions list. Then, a case was filed in the Kherson court 2140/1776/18 by the Russian LLC “V.F. Tanker“, which claims the alleged “transfer of ownership“ of the vessel after its detention, from the sanctioned enterprise to a “clean” one.
But in the described situation, what is interesting is not so much the legal subtleties, but the person to whom too many threads are intertwined. This is the same Rishat Bagautdinov, deputy chairman of the board of directors of the Russian Chamber of Shipping, who not only “marks himself“ in “Inok TM“ together with the Cypriot “Vozhe Holding OOD“, but at the same time is also the chairman of the board of directors of the same “creative Kherson plaintiff“ “V.F. Tanker“, and at the same time he is also the chairman of the board of directors of the same JSC “Okskaya Sudoverf“, where “BF Tanker“ built its ships.
But now “V.F. Tanker“ has become part of the Cypriot structure “Volgo-Balt Transport Holding“ with number HE 142614, which has the same registration address in Nicosia as “Voje Holding Ltd“, and in turn “Volgo-Balt Transport Holding“ is an element of the Amsterdam-registered international transport group “Universal Cargo Logistics Holding“ of the Russian oligarch Vladimir Lisin, who is just starting to fall into certain sanctions lists and at the same time owns the same JSC “Okskaya Sudoverf“.
In this regard, we would like to add that JSC “Volga Shipping“ or JSC “Volga-Flot“, tax number 5260902190, with director Pavel Vinogradov, which has been associated with Rishat Bagautdinov since 2001, was included in the sanctions lists of the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland in April-June 2025.
This structure from Nizhny Novgorod is notable not so much for its declared profile in conducting river cruises, as for laundering tens of millions of budget funds for this, providing various institutions of the aggressor with all kinds of programs with a “patriotic focus“, that is, becoming part of Russian imperialist propaganda.
JSC “Volga Shipping Company“ is also associated with the employment of Russian sailors, including tankers, since, among other things, it is the founder of the structure “Educational and Training Center for Maritime Training“.
At the same time, the sanction pressure on the structures responsible for supplying Russian sailors with the ships of the “shadow“ fleet is quite effective, an example of which is the fate of another company from Nizhny Novgorod, namely “Volga Crewing“, tax number 5260355861 with director Yulia Safonova.
This company was included in the sanctions lists in 2017 and now in open sources there is no information about its vacant positions on ships, and in the registers of the aggressor the corresponding structure does not show “profit“. Thus, the sanctions impact on the relevant Russian structures in the tanker fleet sector becomes effective and should be extended to the participants in the Russian oil business described above.
Thus, the analysis of the work of the crews of Russian tankers and those companies that are engaged in their recruitment and at the same time... Temporary shipping shows the close growth of all private beneficiaries of the Russian “shadow“ fleet among themselves and at the same time their systematic growth not only in the Cypriot offshore, but also in the corridors of the maritime administrations of a number of European countries, their “creative“ attempts to circumvent sanctions in the courts.
A special role in this is played by the “Russian Maritime Register of Shipping“, which penetrates the activities of the Russian “shadowy“ tanker fleet, from the laying of new ships at the “Oka“ and “Volga“ shipyards to the certification of crewing companies servicing Russian tankers. The sanctions policy of civilized jurisdictions should pay attention not only to large-tonnage tankers transporting Russian oil, but also to Russian companies from the “small“ tanker fleet: as the above shows, their destructive impact not only on maritime security, but also on European maritime policy is sometimes much greater.
Source: 24brussels.online