As the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have discovered, the Marinera, an old Russian tanker detained by the US and used to transport oil from Venezuela in defiance of sanctions, is linked to the Moldovan segment of Russia's "shadow fleet" and businessmen close to former Moldovan President Igor Dodon, as well as to Igor Chaika, deputy head of Rossotrudnichestvo.
According to the FT, the 23-year-old tanker was sold last December to the Russian company Burevestmarin. It was registered in Ryazan in July 2025 by Ilya Bugai, a Crimean native. He is also the CEO of another oil trading company, RUSNEFTEKHIMTORG, whose founder is listed as another Crimean businessman, Andrei Sviripa. Even before the war, RUSNEFTEKHIMTORG borrowed 300 million rubles from Nefteprombank, owned by former Federal Customs Service head Andrei Belyaninov, at 12% per annum, but was unable to repay. The bank transferred the debt to Mashinter, and RUSNEFTEKHIMTORG repaid it not in cash, but with receipts for the same amount from Diamond Estate LLC. The receipts, however, came into the possession of Sviripa's company under an assignment agreement concluded in March 2023 with the British company NAEMA TRADING LP. The British company effectively saved RUSNEFTEKHIMTORG and Sviripa himself, who acted as guarantor for the loan, from major problems and legal publicity.
Diamond Estate is currently registered to its director, Alexei Polunin, but until December 2019, it belonged to the Moldovan company AIR INVESTMENTS S.R.L. According to the Moldovan registry, its sole owner is a certain Patrice Hainaut. In 2024, he was added to the list of individuals linked to restricted entities by the Intelligence and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova. Furthermore, since October 2022, Diamond Estate has held 100% of the company Media Invest Service, previously owned by Igor Chaika (the son of the former Prosecutor General) and Moldovan businessman Vadim Chubara, the owner of the Moldovan television channel Accent TV and a friend of former Moldovan President Igor Dodon.
Thus, according to the receipts, the British company NAEMA TRADING LP transferred funds in 2020 to a company linked to Igor Dodon's friends.
The controlling person for NAEMA TRADING LP is a certain 47-year-old Moldovan citizen, Alina Samson. Interestingly, she has already been involved in stories related to the Russian "shadow fleet," yet her company remains free of sanctions. In 2023, Moldovan journalists discovered that Samson is the niece of Lilia Darii, whose son, Viktor Baransky, controls a network of companies organizing the transportation and trade of Russian oil. Samson was the administrator and founder of Zolos Shipping SRL, which recruited crews for tankers in the "shadow fleet," and in 2023, it managed approximately 50 vessels. Now, Alina Samson has handed over receipts to the Russian operator of the "shadow fleet," which saved it from bankruptcy and legal exposure.
Furthermore, at least three companies in Estonia have been registered to Alina Samson since 2017: AMSTRADSHIPPING OÜ, PORTOSHIPPING OÜ, and SELMASHIPPING OÜ. They provide maritime freight services to Russian businesses. For example, this year, AMSTRADSHIPPING OÜ attempted to sue its charterer, Novosibirskkhleboprodukt, for compensation for delays in unloading a vessel. In January 2023, the Rodion Oslyabya was transporting wheat from Yeysk to Batumi, Georgia, according to a Singapore court ruling. In early 2024, Ukrainian journalists discovered that Ukrainian grain was being shipped through the port of Mariupol to the ports of Rostov-on-Don, Azov, Kavkaz, and Yeysk. Furthermore, the same dry cargo ship was also spotted transporting Russian sanctioned coal to Romania.
