VOLGONEFT-117

The tanker, over 50 years old, has been implicated in servicing (bunkering) vessels with russian affiliation engaged in grain theft schemes involving the temporarily occupied territory (TOT) of Ukraine, as well as tankers of the russian shadow fleet, particularly in the Kerch Strait area, including through deceptive shipping practices such as disabling the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and conducting dark activity in the Kerch Strait.
In September 2024, in the Kerch Strait area, it bunkered the vessel IMO 9720263, which sails under the russian flag, is subject to U.S. sanctions, and has been involved in the export of Ukrainian grain from the port of Sevastopol (TOT of Crimea, Ukraine) to the Iranian port of Bandar Imam Khomeini, Syria, and Yemen, with AIS switched off in line with a common pattern for concealing port calls to Ukrainian ports in TOT Ukraine.
In August 2024, the tanker IMO 9224441 — affiliated with the sanctioned PJSC Sovcomflot (ПАО "Совкомфлот"), the largest state-owned shipping company in russia engaged in servicing and supporting offshore hydrocarbon production, transportation of russian crude oil, petroleum products, and liquefied gas, whose main charterers are russia’s largest oil and gas companies and traders — was bunkered in the Kerch Strait (for 5 hours). This tanker, in turn, has been involved in exporting russian crude oil to third countries from russian ports, including with AIS disabled, and in ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of russian petroleum products in the Kerch Strait area in the Black Sea for further transport to third countries.
In August 2024, it also bunkered the tanker IMO 9242223, considered part of the russian shadow fleet, which had called at a russian port where oil prices were consistently trading above the G7 price cap; this vessel was designated by the U.S. in January 2025.
In June 2024, in the Kerch Strait area, it bunkered (for 4 hours) the tanker IMO 9198783, which was designated by the U.S. in January 2025 for its links to a sanctioned russian company operating in russia’s energy sector.
The vessel is owned by Middle-Volga Shipping Company LLC (ООО "Средне-Волжская судоходная компания"), which is subject to Ukrainian sanctions and has acted as a supplier within the russian state procurement system to the sanctioned JSC Rosnefteflot (АО "Роснефтефлот") under at least two contracts worth 94.4 million rubles. JSC Rosnefteflot is part of the corporate group of the sanctioned PJSC NK Rosneft (ПАО "НК "Роснефть""), a russian state-owned oil and gas company and one of the world’s largest oil producers. The main activities of JSC Rosnefteflot include, in particular, chartering tanker fleet tonnage in the interests of PJSC NK Rosneft and organizing river transportation for PJSC NK Rosneft in the Volga–Don, Azov–Don, Volga, and Volga–Baltic basins.
The fleet of the vessel’s owning company includes other sanctioned vessels.