War&Sanctions: DIU names new captains of the Russian “shadow fleet”

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine's Directorate of Maritime Security published a dossier on 139 sea vessels and 142 captains involved in the illegal transportation of Russian and Iranian sanctioned oil, as well as stolen Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied territories, in the "Sea Vessels " section of the War&Sanctions portal.

The export of crude oil, petroleum products, gas, grain, coal, sulfur, and fertilizers is one of the key components of the Russian economy, providing billions in revenue to the aggressor country's budget and financing its war against Ukraine.

Sea exports from the Baltic and Black Sea regions are a Russian-organized traffic of stolen Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, crude oil, and petroleum products to circumvent the sanctions imposed, mostly organized by the Kremlin's shadow flotilla.

Amid the blocking of legal commercial activity of sanctioned vessels, Russia continues to expand its "shadow" tanker fleet, attracting shell companies and ghost ships to maintain its export flows.

The main figures in the new publication were:

• new shadow tankers, recruited by the Russian Federation since 2025 to circumvent sanctions control;

• vessels belonging to the shipping empire of Iranian oil magnate and main arms supplier to Russia, Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of former Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, which ensure the transportation of sanctioned oil;

• oil tankers from the orbit of Astrakhan businessman Jamaldin Pashayev, connected with the logistics of the North-South transport corridor intended for trade with Iran. In addition, Pashayev and his companies are involved in schemes to transfer lethal aid to the Russian company “SEZ “Alabuga” with the support of Iran;

• sea vessels involved in the transportation of stolen Ukrainian grain, which Russia passes off as its own products on the international market;

• ⁠Russian and foreign vessels carrying out illegal activities in ports closed by Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories.

The “Marine Vessels” section currently contains information on over 1,200 vessels, more than half of which are part of the so-called “shadow fleet” of the Russian Federation, as well as data on almost 300 captains who are directly involved in violating the international sanctions regime.