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The owner of the tanker Bella 1/Marinera (which was seized on Jan. 7 in the North Atlantic by U.S. forces) turned out to be the Russian company Burevestmarin. The firm’s founder and sole owner is Ilya Bugai, a native of Chita who now lives in Moscow, Novaya Gazeta Europe reports, citing data from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Russia’s Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
Burevestmarin was registered in Ryazan six months ago and, judging by job postings, was indeed engaged in maritime transportation. Since 2018, Bugai has served as CEO of Rusneftekhimtorg, a company that trades petroleum products. After 2020, that firm’s revenue declined sharply, and in 2024 it posted losses.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the investigative project Sistema found that Rusneftekhimtorg sold fuel to foreign companies linked to Viktor Baranskyi, a former deputy of the Odesa City Council and an associate of Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk. In 2021, companies linked to Baranskyi were placed under U.S. sanctions for transporting Venezuelan oil.
Then in 2023, the Bugai-led Rusneftekhimtorg transferred claims against the company Diamond Estate to the bank MashInter LLC as repayment for a debt (which had initially been owed to the bankrupt Nefteprobank, MashInter’s predecessor). Since 2022, Diamond Estate has owned the Moldovan TV channels Accent TV and First in Moldova. Both had their licenses suspended in 2024 over questionable financing. Diamond Estate is owned by Russian national Alexei Polunin, and its founder is Russian businessman Alexei Goncharenko. Goncharenko owns a majority stake in Avia Invest SRL, which holds the concession for Chisinau airport.
Ilan Shor — a fugitive Moldovan oligarch sentenced in his home country to seven years and six months in prison for the theft of $1 billion from the country’s banking system — previously chaired Avia Invest’s administrative board. Working with Promsvyazbank, Shor also created the cryptocurrency company A7, which helps Russian businesses carry out international settlements in circumvention of U.S. sanctions.
The tanker Bella 1 (IMO: 9230880), which U.S. authorities classify as being part of Russia's “shadow fleet,” was seized after a three-week pursuit. The operation involved the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, while the vessel was tracked by the crew of a Coast Guard cutter. U.S. forces boarded the tanker before the arrival of a Russian submarine that was sent to assist the ship. The pursuit began off the coast of Venezuela, where Bella 1 was heading to load oil. During the chase, the Guyanese-flagged vessel was re-registered under the Russian flag and renamed Marinera.