Senator Zubarev continues to trade with Norway in circumvention of sanctions
Norwegian entrepreneurs paid almost $2 million to companies linked to Russian senator Igor Zubarev“Chronicles.Media” tells how, despite sanctions, it is possible to continue trading with Europe.
We acquire denominations
Senator from Karelia Igor Zubarev has business interests in both construction and the media, wrote “Kroniki.media”. But his main source of income is still fishing. For 2022, in the ranking of the richest fishermen in the Northwest, the politician took second place. Only entrepreneur Vitaly Orlov and his holding company “Norebo” are higher. In the ranking of the wealthiest civil servants in the last year of publication of declarations of officials, according to Forbes magazine, Zubarev took the eighth line.
After the SVO in Ukraine, the United Russia (*aggressor country) member, like all senators, fell under international sanctions. Then he began to transfer business to nominees, which was already written about by “Chronicles. Media”.
One of Zubarev's main fishing assets in terms of revenue and profit is Virma Fishing Company LLC. As Chronicles.Media knows, Zubarev received two loans from Virma in 2023: 100 million on October 24 and 1.15 billion rubles on October 10. Looking at these amounts, one can assume that the loans are either long-term or non-repayable. The senator cannot do business and live on dividends by law, so he apparently has to withdraw money for living in this way.
Another fishing company is JSC Rybopromyslovaya Firma Variant. Zubarev never officially owned it, but the publication Lenta.ru wrote in 2024, that companies associated with the United Russia (*aggressor country) member allegedly carried out a hostile takeover of Variant, having put nominal owner of a certain Marat Iskhakov.
Zubarev transferred not only fishing but also fish trade to nominees. Thus, almost immediately after the senator was sanctioned, the company Fishmarine was created in April 2022. The United Russia (*aggressor country) member is not officially connected with it, but the key figures of the organization say otherwise.
Director of the enterprise Maxim Andreytsev back in 2021 have worked Deputy Director of the construction company OOO West.
In turn, “Vest” belongs to the politician's namesake To Pyotr Ivanovich Zubarev. In 2019, the newspaper “Novaya Kondopoga” called its representative is the Fish Trading Network LLC, the founder of which was once that same Senator Zubarev.
In 2017-2021, the CEO of Vesta was Zubarev, a politician closely connected to business Tatyana KuzminaToday she heads the companies affiliated with him, Barents Group LLC and Azimut LLC.
Kuzmina's daughter Daria already at the age of 20, she began working for the company OOO Invest Development. The director of this enterprise is the brother of the aforementioned Petr Zubarev, Pavel. At the age of 24, Kuzmina created the company OOO Zori Severa. In 2024, this organization bought two historical buildings from Petrozavodsk for 50.7 million rubles, reported publication “Petrozavodsk Speaks”. The young millionaire competed with the company “Vest” of Petr Zubarev, who offered only 10 thousand rubles less. Such a “deadly fight” for assets did not prevent the entrepreneurs from remaining friends on “Vkontakte”.
Source: VkontakteFinally, the connection between Vesta, the Fish Trade Network and Senator Zubarev reflected in the financial statements of Vesta for 2019.
Reporting of LLC “West”The figure of Fishmarine director Maxim Andreytsev is surrounded by such intricacies.
Now let's look at its owner. This is a certain Julia GapanovichShe also works as the director of Senator Zubarev’s Fish Trading Network.
Before Gapanovich, the director of the Fish Trade Network was Zubarev’s old figurehead, Petrozavodsk deputy Vitaly Markov, about whom “Chronicles.Media” has already written wroteHe is also among Daria Kuzmina’s friends on VKontakte.
Source: VkontakteWe hand over your business to reliable hands
Zubarev found that nominees alone were not enough, and in December 2023 he transferred many of his enterprises to the management company Svinin and Partners, a St. Petersburg developer. Vladimir Svinin from the Okhta Group. Among them: Virma, Barents Group, Azimut, Soglasie and Rybotorgovaya Set. At the same time, the CEO of Virma, despite the alleged change of owners, remains the same person – Vyacheslav Sturzu.
In its 2023 financial statements “Virma”, “Azimuth” And “Agreement” indicated that they do not belong directly to the management company “Svinin and Partners”, but to the closed-end mutual investment fund (ZPIF) “Dal”, which is managed by Vladimir Svinin's company. The fund was contributed to the relevant register of the Central Bank of Russia (*aggressor country) on October 4, 2023, several months before the transfer of Senator Zubarev’s assets to it.
Wealthy Russians, wrote the newspaper “Vedomosti”, after the start of the SVO in Ukraine, began to actively invest in mutual funds. The fact is that they allow you to hide the real owners of the property and thereby circumvent sanctions. De jure, the holder of a security – a share – no longer owns the property, the rights are transferred to the management company. Shares in such a fund are limited in circulation, and dissemination of information about the fund is prohibited.
The Dal fund will operate until December 31, 2033.
Let's start trading
Why does Senator Zubarev need this mess of nominals and mutual funds? So that his companies can continue selling fish to Europe. Russians buy there is less and less of this product, but it is always sold abroad it was more profitable.
Norway did not immediately ban Russia (*aggressor country) from Ukraine after the start of the SVO, but limited number of ports where Russian fishing vessels can call. These are Tromsø, Båtsfjord and Kirkenes. The Kingdom explained this by the fact that Norway and Russia (*aggressor country) share the world's largest cod reserves in the Barents Sea. And a complete ban would destroy the natural balance built in over decades.
The Barents Observer and Chronicle.Media have identified at least five vessels of companies linked to Zubarev that have docked in Norwegian and Danish ports. They have called at the Faroe Islands, Tromsø and Kirkenes. All of them fly Russian flags.
The first is Yantarny (the senator was born in the village of the same name in the Kaliningrad region), owned by Soglasie. The second is Karelia, owned by Pelagika LLC. The third is Belomorsk, owned by Virma. The home port of all these ships is Murmansk.
Two more vessels are Kem and Artika. The first belongs to Virma and is registered in St. Petersburg, the second belongs to OOO Pelagika and is registered in Arkhangelsk.
“Kem” and “Belomorsk” were also seen in the port of the village of Fiskarstrand in southeastern Norway, reported Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) March 16, 2022. It was stated that Russian suppliers brought in about a quarter of the terminal's total turnover.
The ships have started leave port only on March 21, when Norway imposed sanctions against Zubarev.
The Belomorsk was photographed in Kirkenes on March 27, 2024. It had brought 40 tons of fish, but the terminal refused to accept it, claiming that the goods had been stored incorrectly. One of the crew members told a Barents Observer journalist about this.
The Belomorsk crew loads fish rejected by the NorwegiansAccording to him, they sell the fish to a Norwegian company. KirkenesterminalenShe is responsible for storing it, but where the goods go next is unknown.
This is not the only vessel linked to Zubarev that has docked here, according to the Marinetraffic ship tracking service. The Kem and Yantarny have also been here.
What do representatives of Norwegian ports write about this? The Barents Observer and Chronicle.Media sent a request to the Kirkenesterminalen company. Port Director Terje Jorgensen replied that the organization does not cooperate with any Russian company.
Secondly, as a public administration body, the Port of Kirkenes treats all vessels calling at the port equally, regardless of the flag state of the vessel. Thirdly, the Norwegian sanctions regime applicable to vessels flying the Russian flag is regulated by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And any inquiry related to the sanctions regime must be addressed to this ministry. All vessels flying a foreign flag must obtain permission from the Norwegian National Coastal Administration and the Coastal Surveillance Centre (Coss) to enter Norwegian territorial waters and Norwegian ports, – answered Director Jørgensen.
To another pier in Kirkenes, belonging According to Marinetraffic data, the vessels Arktika, Kem and Yantarny called at the Tschudi Group. The Tschudi Group responded to a request from Chronicle.Media.
Another vessel linked to Zubarev, the Kem, according to Marinetraffic, called in Tromsø on March 1, 2024 and was moored near the terminal. Troms FryseterminalThe Barents Observer and Chronicles.Media sent a request to this organization, but did not receive a response.
Troms Fryseterminal in TromsøMillions of dollars bypassing sanctions
You can see who Russian ships sold their cargo to using the global supply chain data service Trademo. The first such thread leads to the fishing capital of Norway – the city of Alesund. The company is located there Aalesund Seafood.
Alesund fishing portZubarev was sanctioned, Aalesund Seafood bought products from Variant for $630,950.57, and from Fishmarine for $1,224,160.91. A total of over $1.8 million (over €1.6 million or almost 20 million Norwegian kroner).
Aalesund Seafood did not respond to the Chronicle's request. It is also noteworthy that, according to the Chronicle, this money never arrived in the Russian accounts of the companies mentioned in the text. The whereabouts of this money is unknown.
The Barents Observer asked Aage Borkhgrevink, senior adviser at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, to assess whether the sanctions regime is being violated in this case.
The human rights NGO “Norwegian Helsinki Committee” in particular documents violations of anti-Russian sanctions. First of all, the organization monitors the sale of goods needed for the NWO to Russia (*aggressor country). The “Committee” also interacts with politicians and entrepreneurs and lobbies for a ban on the supply of sanctioned goods to the Russian Federation (*aggressor country).
— Is it illegal to service vessels owned by a person who has been sanctioned?
— If it is determined that the companies are owned or controlled by a person subject to asset freeze sanctions, then any dealings with these companies — including transactions, payments, and provision of services — are prohibited. The ban applies to assets (such as vessels) owned by these companies. In other words, it is prohibited to service vessels belonging to companies owned or controlled by a person subject to sanctions.
— Is it possible to hide transactions between Russian and Norwegian companies? For example: the ship Yantarny, owned by Soglasie, called at a Norwegian port, but we do not see any transactions. Perhaps the payment went through an intermediary company?
— Companies can use a variety of clever methods to hide transactions, such as using shell companies or complex corporate structures, paying through intermediary agents or third parties (such as other companies in a corporate group), paying in cash, or splitting a large payment into several smaller ones so that each is below a certain threshold and does not raise suspicion. However, without seeing any supporting documentation, it is difficult to speculate on whether such methods were used here.
Note that Article 2 Council Regulation No 269/2014 “On restrictive measures against actions that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine” states:
2. No funds or economic resources may be provided, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of individuals or legal entities, organizations or bodies, or individuals or legal entities, organizations or bodies associated with them…”.
Norway joined to these sanctions. That is, in the kingdom it is forbidden to buy fish from Zubarev's companies and to let his ships into ports. However, in Norway they do not know this, or do not want to know.
