KUPAVA

The tanker is involved in the export of russian oil/oil products from russian ports in the Black and Azov Seas, mainly to Turkey and Egypt, using deceptive practices (disabling AIS, spoofing), including in the Kerch Strait area. In October 2023, the vessel carried out STS transmissions with the oil product tanker BORAY (IMO 9198783) with a deadweight of almost 75 thousand tons, which was sanctioned by USA in January 2025 as property in which the sanctioned company Sunor International LLC, which is involved in the energy sector of the russian economy, has an interest.
The vessel belongs to the russian company Middle Volga Shipping Company LLC (subject to Ukrainian sanctions), which is a supplier to the sanctioned JSC Rosnefteflot under the russian state procurement system (at least under two contracts worth 94.4 million rubles). Rosnefteflot JSC is a part of the group of the sanctioned russian PJSC Rosneft Oil Company, a russian state-owned oil and gas company, one of the world's largest oil producers. The main activities of Rosnefteflot JSC are, in particular, chartering of the tanker fleet for the benefit of Rosneft, organization of river transportation in the interests of Rosneft in the Volga-Don, Azov-Don, Volga and Volga-Baltic basins.