Gennady Timchenko’s Ex-Managers Provided Services to the Shadow Fleet in the Russian Sea Ports

In May 2025, in the Gulf of Finland, the 244-meter tanker Jaguar evaded Estonian patrol boats, which failed to detain it. A Russian Su-35 fighter jet arrived to support the tanker, and the vessel retreated to Russian territorial waters. The tanker did not have a valid flag or even a clear name. According to ship tracking websites, as of February 2025, the tanker was supposed to be called Argent, and Blint in May. The tanker was owned by a company from Mauritius, while its operator was connected to an Indian company, punished as a key mover of Russian oil. However, some members of the ship's bridge crew were speaking Russian.

Jaguar, also known as Argent and Blint, is one of hundreds of shadow fleet tankers transporting Russian oil around the world, enabling its trade despite the international restrictions imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The shadow fleet, which helps Russia bypass restrictions, is estimated to range from 300 to 850 tankers, mostly operated and owned by companies from India, China, the UAE, and other countries that do not support strict anti-Russian sanctions.

In 2024, the former managers of Gennady Timchenko's companies provided services to at least 170 shadow fleet tankers (including Jaguar) in Russia’s largest sea ports, IStories found out. We obtained the financial documents of service providers showing the tankers' names, and compared them with the sanctions lists. The same Timchenko's former managers are linked to major traders of Russian oil.

Putin’s close friend Timchenko is known as the main trader of Russian oil before the 2014 sanctions. In the Russian president's inner circle he was the one in charge of the oil trade.

Experts we interviewed believe It is possible that Timchenko still has non formal control over the sphere, or at list the service providers to the shadow fleet tankers and some oil traders are managed by the people he trusted.

More than 300 tankers per year

There are two notable companies with the same name — Altroprae Marine providing services to the tankers in the Russian sea ports. They specialize in tanker agency services — organizing cargo transshipment, supplying ships with everything they need, processing documents required for border crossing and port entry, registering vessels in the port, and so on.

Financial documents of these two companies, obtained by IStories, show that in 2024, in the port of Novorossiysk, as well as in Ust-Luga and Primorsk, they provided services to 322 tankers.

By comparing their names with sanction lists and ship tracking resources, we found out that at least 170 of tankers belong to the shadow fleet: sanctioned for transporting Russian oil in circumvention of restrictions or spotted as vessels of interest (see the summary table available when fact-checking is enabled 1).

The port of Novorossiysk

The Altroprae Marine company providing services to the tankers in the Port of Novorossiysk is managed and wholly owned by Timchenko’s companies former manager, Mikhail Kasatkin.

Mikhail Kasatkin

From 2009 to the end of 2013, Kasatkin worked consecutively in the Russian branches of Gennady Timchenko’s Gunvor group companies — Palmpoint International and Port Union Oil Export, which handled logistics and oil transshipment in Russian ports.

Port Union ceased to be an intermediary in oil transshipment at the Novorossiysk only in 2014. And only after a complaint was filed with Putin by the state-controlled Rosneft, accusing Port Union of overcharging for transshipment.

Without a complaint to Putin, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, who once managed to jail even a minister, could do nothing about Port Union. He was up against the interests of two of the president’s friends — Gennady Timchenko, who owned the Gunvor group before the 2014 sanctions, and Nikolai Tokarev, head of the state-owned Transneft, which controlled oil transshipment at the port. Kasatkin simultaneously worked in Gunvor’s subsidiaries and Transneft companies.

Kasatkin established the Altroprae Marine in Novorossiysk in 2017. In 2024, it provided services to 179 tankers that were loaded at the Port of Novorossiysk. 101 of these tankers belong to the shadow fleet (see table 2), IStories analysys showed.

Altroprae Marine (Novorossiysk) provided services to the tanker Cordelia Moon, which at the end of 2024, due to a malfunction, blocked traffic in both directions in the Bosphorus Strait. And to the tanker Elijah, the same year broke down in the Dardanelles. The 274-meter Cordelia Moon soon came under EU, UK, and Canadian sanctions, changed its name to Walrus, and continued sailing to India and Egypt. The 184-meter Elijah was not sanctioned, although it drew the attention of monitoring groups tracking tankers carrying Russian oil. It changed its name to St Lady Meenah and now sails to African ports.

Among the clients of Altroprae Marine (Novorossiysk), according to its 2024 financial transactions, there was Demex Trading, which in January 2025 was sanctioned by the US for trading Russian oil above the cap (the specific tankers used by Demex Trading were not named in the Altoprae Marine documents we obtained). Also among the Altoprae Marine (Novorossiysk) clients in 2024, there was an operator of oil tankers Rosewood Shipping, which was fully owned by Oksana Marchenko — the wife of Putin’s crony, former pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. The company operated at least six shadow fleet tankers, five of which were sanctioned by the US back in 2023 and now mainly transport oil inside Russia, as well as between Russia and Iran (the exact Rosewood Shipping tankers were not named in Altroprae Marine transactions).

The ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk

The Altoprae Marine company providing services to the tankers in the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, was registered in Kingisepp, 138 kilometers southwest of St. Petersburg. The company is managed and fully owned by Timchenko’s companies former top manager, Alexander Gordeev.

Alexander Gordeev

Since 2007, Gordeev worked for Timchenko’s Gunvor group — he was one of the heads of the Russian branches of Sandmark and Palmpoint International (Kasatkin also worked there), which handled logistics and oil transshipment in Russian ports. In 2009–2014 Gordeev he was the first deputy general director of Novorossiysk Oil Terminal, which was co-owned by Gunvor.

From 2010–2012, Gordeev sat on the board of directors of Rosneftbunker together with Timchenko’s son-in-law, Gleb Frank, managers of other billionaire companies, and Gunvor employee Viktor Yakunin, son of another old friend of Putin from KGB, former Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin. Rosneftbunker (later Ust-Luga Oil) was owned by Gunvor from 2009 to 2015, and built a terminal for oil product transshipment in the port of Ust-Luga.

Gordeev established the Altroprae Marine in Kingisepp in 2021. In 2024, it provided services to 163 tankers in the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk. 82 of these vessels belong to the shadow fleet (see table 3. Some of them also got services from Altroprae Marine (Novorossiysk) at the Port of Novorossiysk).

One of the major clients of the Kingisepp Altroprae Marine in 2024 was the Hong Kong oil trader Blackford Corporation: in particular Altroprae Marine (Kingisepp) provided services to the tanker Eurochampion, which was mentioned in the joint investigation Fueling War (by Investigate Europe, Reporters United, and Meduza).

Blackford Corporation is among the suppliers of oil to the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL and was ranked seventh among the buyers of Russian crude not complying with the $60 per barrel price cap set by the EU, according to The Insider investigation.

One of the largest oil suppliers for Blackford Corporation is one of Russian oil giants Surgutneftegas. Another Surgutneftegas oil trader — the UAE-based company PME Fzco — was also a client of the Altroprae Marine (Kingisepp) in 2024, according to the company’s financial transactions.

The Dossier Center previously reported that Surgutneftegas is closely linked to Timchenko. A former high-ranking official confirmed to IStories that Timchenko informally owned a large stake in Surgutneftegas. The billionaire himself has always denied this.

“I once said this in a fit of emotion, and I’ll say it again: it’s not mine, it never was, and it’s unlikely it ever will be. I bought Surgutneftegas shares at the very beginning. It was a very small stake,” Timchenko assured Forbes back in 2012.

Ties to oil traders

Altroprae Marine’s relationships with oil traders friendly to Timchenko were noted by Intelligence Online. According to the portal, which referred to a leak of corporate correspondence, Altroprae Marine (which of the two was not specified) interacted with the oil trader Paramount Energy, owned by Niels Troost. In 2022, Paramount briefly became the fourth largest buyer of Russian oil (11.7 million barrels).

Troost is almost the only European businessman who was sanctioned by the UK in 2023, and by the EU next year for trading Russian oil above the price cap. As reported by The Wall Street Journal in 2022, Troщst’s Swiss company Tenergy Trading previously traded oil products with Timchenko’s IPP. Tenergy’s co-owner and Troщst’s partner, Michael Tuor, played tennis with Timchenko and was a guest at the Russian billionaire’s home in Geneva; Troost himself also knew Timchenko, the Swiss Public Eye reported.

Altroprae Marine’s ties to oil traders are not limited to the fact that the latter were its clients. Both Altroprae Marines and their owners were associated with the business of another former Timchenko's top manager — Mikhail Mezhenzev. He has been spotted in the management of oil traders — the largest dealers of Russian oil during the war and sanctions period.

Mikhail Mezhenzev

Mezhenzev worked alongside the owners of Altroprae Marine (Novorossiysk and Kingisepp) in Gunvor group companies back when Timchenko was Gunvor's owner. Since 2007 Mezhentsev worked in Moscow branches of Gunvor group entities (Palmpoint International and Sandmark). In 2014, he headed Gunvor’s Moscow office. Until 2008, Mezhenzev was an employee of Sovcomflot — the state oil and gas shipping company that supplied Gunvor with tankers. Until 2013, Mezhenzev chaired the board of directors of Rosneftbunker, where Timchenko’s son-in-law was a board member. From 2009 to 2010, Mezhentsev was a president of Transnefteprodukt, owned by Russian state Transneft.

The Altroprae Marine (Novorossiysk) of Kasatkin held a stake in Mezhenzev’s family recreation business in Leningrad Oblast. After leaving Timchenko’s companies, Mezhenzev worked for a long time with the owner of Altroprae Marine (Kingisepp) — Gordeev — as his deputy in the fuel trading business (Stoik company). From 2008 to 2012, this business was headed by Alexander Zhuravlev, who at the time also worked for Timchenko’s Gunvor group companies.

Intelligence Online called Mezhenzev the “right hand” of the owner of the oil trader Concept Oil. And the Swiss group Public Eye noted, that Mezhenzev worked not only for Concept Oil, but also joined the management of Demex Trading. Both traders were among the suppliers of oil for Paramount Energy.

Demex, which was a client of Altroprae Marine (Novorossiysk), in 2023 was among the top ten buyers of Russian oil, according to Bloomberg, with supply volumes amounting to $8 billion. In early 2025, Demex was sanctioned by the US for trading Russian oil in circumvention of restrictions.

Concept Oil, according to researchers’ estimates, could have bought Russian oil above the price cap set by the EU. In the year after the war began, Concept Oil exported nearly $3.2 billion worth of Russian oil, making it one of the top ten suppliers, calculated the Dossier Center. Concept Oil’s Moscow branch listed the same address as Mezhenzev’s family business (NK Diagnostic) and the fuel trading company (Stoik) owned by the Altroprae Marine’s (Kingisepp) owner, Gordeev (more details about Concept Oil in our article).

Mezhenzev and Gordeev also crossed paths in business with two other Timchenko's top managers linked to Normeston Trading — one of the largest suppliers of Russian oil to Eastern Europe (more details in our article). Since 2011, Normeston has sold more than $10 billion worth of Russian oil in Europe (mainly in Hungary).

The suspicions are serious

Such a concentration of Timchenko’s people attracts attention and looks rather unusual, according to a former member of Russia’s Forbes list.

Perhaps this happened because many specialists in this field once worked for Timchenko, who in Putin’s circle was the main person in charge for Russian oil trading. Or it may indicate that this friend of the Russian president still controls the process via his trusted people.

Overall, experts interviewed by IStories believe that Timchenko, taking into consideration his experience, proximity to the president, and business ties around the world, could well have become in demand again in the business of Russian oil trading and transportation in a tough time.

A former head of one of Russia’s state-owned companies believes the links between Timchenko's men, service providers for the shadow fleet tankers and traders supplying Russian oil in circumvention of restrictions may not be accidental. “The suspicions are serious,” he concluded, emphasizing the particular importance of oil trading for the Russian authorities and their drive for total control over “strategically important” business spheres.

The owners of the two Altroprae Marine companies and Gennady Timchenko did not respond to IStories’ requests for comments.