According to a joint investigation by the program "Nekā personīga", TV3 channel, and Baltic journalists, enterprises registered in the Baltic countries, including Latvian ones, supply fuel to the vessels of the so-called shadow fleet of Russia, which continues to export Russian oil to third countries.
The Russian shadow fleet, consisting of hundreds of tankers of unclear origin, is being used to circumvent sanctions by supplying oil to India, China, and other countries. According to the European Union (EU), this fleet may include up to one-sixth of all oil tanker vessels in the world.
A joint investigation by Lithuanian media "LRT English" and "15 min", Estonian "Eesti Ekspress", and Latvian "Nekā personīga" revealed that in 2023 and 2024, companies registered in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia conducted nearly 300 bunkering operations using the vessels "Zircone" and "Rina", servicing 177 tankers. Of these, 159 were heading to or from Russian ports, and at least 20 were subsequently included in the EU and US sanctions lists. Approximately one-third of the serviced vessels are linked to companies that are under sanctions.
Both bunkerers operated for a long time under the brand of the Latvian company "Fast Bunkering", registered in the Riga port area. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the company changed names, addresses, and owners, possibly continuing its operations through other registered Latvian companies - "Welton Enterprises" and "Ship Service". Entrepreneurs previously associated with the Estonian "NT Bunkering" are involved in the structures of these companies.
In Estonia, a criminal case has been initiated against "NT Bunkering" for possible circumvention of sanctions and forgery of documents certifying the origin of the fuel. Previously, the vessels of the company were officially owned by the Latvian "Welton Enterprises", which later sold them to the Dubai-registered company "FB Trade DWC-LLC". The latter is managed by individuals previously linked to "NT Bunkering".
This autumn, the management of the vessels was transferred to the Latvian company "Ship Service", whose owner also provides crews for both tankers. The authors of the investigation indicate that these structures effectively continue the operations of "Fast Bunkering" and "NT Bunkering", using intermediaries and changes of ownership to conceal connections with vessels that have been sanctioned.
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