Russian tanker seized by US linked to Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor

2026-01-08 18:32:48, Kosova & Bota CNA

The U.S. Coast Guard stopped and seized the oil tanker Marinera, formerly known as Bella 1, in the North Atlantic on January 7. They pursued the tanker for about two and a half weeks. While it was being pursued, it changed its flag to Russian and secured Moscow's support.

According to reports, it was even accompanied by a Russian submarine.

This degree of Moscow's involvement in the troubles of a tanker on the other side of the world is no coincidence.

Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL) and its investigative network, Systema, revealed that the tanker is linked to longtime Kremlin allies: former Ukrainian MP Viktor Baransky and fugitive Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor.

The Marinera tanker received temporary permission to sail under the Russian flag on the fourth day of the US pursuit, on December 24, 2025.

It also changed ownership: instead of a Turkish company under US sanctions, the owner became the Burevestmarin firm from the western Russian city of Ryazan.

It was registered in July 2025, and since then its general director and sole owner has been Ilja Bugaj, 39, originally from Chita. He read the questions that “Systema” and Radio Free Europe sent to him in a messaging app, but did not respond to them.

Bugaj also runs a limited liability company, Rusneftehimtorg, in Moscow, which deals with fuel supplies, including via tankers. Among Rusneftehimtorg’s main buyers of fuel have been several foreign companies, and they all have one thing in common: they are owned by women living in Moldova.

At least two women from this group have previously been in the spotlight of journalists.

The newspaper “Verstka” called them candidates for the shadowy tanker fleet empire, behind which stands the former deputy of the Odessa city council, Viktor Baransky. In 2021, structures associated with Baransky and his informal holding company were sanctioned by the US for transporting Venezuelan oil.

System and REL sent questions to Baransky on Facebook; he saw them but did not immediately respond.

The Moldovan candidates are not the only thing linking Rusneftehimtorg to Viktor Baransky's conglomerate. The firm run by Bugaj has used a tanker from Baransky's alleged flotilla and has traded with a company close to the former MP's informal holding company.

However, other connections can also be discerned at Rusneftehimtorg.

In November 2020, Rusneftehimtorg, associated with the seized tanker, agreed with Nefteprombank on a loan of 300 million rubles ($3.7 million at the exchange rate at that time). Half a month later, the bank granted the same amount to the company, Rechmortrans, behind which, according to Verstka, Baransky was behind.

Six months later, the Central Bank accused Nefteprombank of asset stripping and revoked its license. The bank was then declared bankrupt and the bankruptcy administrator began demanding repayment of loans.

In 2022, the turn to repay debts came for Rusneftehimtorg and Rechmortrans. Both firms faced lawsuits and paid off their obligations by March 2023.

In both cases, the same scheme was used: in exchange for the debt, the borrowers transferred to the creditor the rights of claim against a third firm – LLC Diamand Estate. Rusneftehimtorg, Rechmortrans and the general director of Diamand Estate did not respond to requests for comment.

As of 2022, Diamand Estate owns two Moldovan television channels. Previously, they were owned by Igor Chaika, the son of former Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, and Vadim Chubara, a close associate of former Moldovan President Igor Dodon.

With the advent of Diamand Estate, the channels began to connect with the circle of Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor.

He was also suspected of embezzling 2.4 million euros from Nefteprombank, but the case ended without consequences for him.

Shor is considered the “hand of Moscow” in Moldovan politics. Meanwhile, the businessman himself has long been living outside Moldova – there he was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for withdrawing a billion dollars from the country’s banking system.

Shor settled in Russia, obtained Russian citizenship, and now helps the Kremlin circumvent financial sanctions through cryptocurrencies.

Shor's partner is the state-owned bank Promsvyazbank, and Vladimir Putin also attended the launch of the project in the fall of 2025.

Baransky also has connections in the Russian president's circle. The former Ukrainian MP was a member of the party of Viktor Medvedchuk, Putin's godfather. After the complete occupation of Ukraine, Baransky was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship and, according to media reports, he moved to Russia after Medvedchuk./REL