GERMES

The tug has been implicated in grain theft schemes involving shipments from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.
In December 2023, the tug, operating with the barge Samarskaya-3, removed Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied port of Berdyansk, Zaporizhzhia Region, Ukraine. The barge Samarskaya-3 belongs to the fleet of Petrotanker LLC (ООО "Петротанкер", TIN/INN 7840463656), a russian company that specializes in the carriage of general, project, grain, and bulk cargoes via the inland waterways of the russian federation, the waters of the Northern Sea Route, and international sea routes in the Barents, North, Baltic, Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas.
The vessel is affiliated with Rika-More Management Company LLC (ООО "Управляющая компания "Река-Море", TIN/INN 6164275559), a russian company designated by Ukraine. Rika-More Management Company provides vessel-agency services in the seaports of Rostov-on-Don and Azov; conducts complex, non-standard transport, loading, and unloading operations for cargoes of any dimensions; performs pilotage; and carries out towing of floating objects of varying complexity in support of the ministry of defense of the russian federation, security agencies, and enterprises of the aggressor’s military-industrial complex.