A Transparency InternationalGeorgia background report raises red flags that a Russian oil shipment to Georgia may have been facilitated through a shadow-fleet vessel and a network of sanctioned or high-risk actors, prompting broader concerns about sanctions evasion.
A background report published by a leading transparency watchdog group in Tbilisi highlights the sketchy ownership structure of a tanker that delivered oil from Russia to Georgia , raising suspicions that the shipment was part of a sanctions-busting endeavor.
The backgrounder published by Transparency International-Georgia,titledKuleviOilRefinery PartofaSanctionsEvasionScheme,chronicles the voyage of thetanker Kayseri, which sailed out of the Russian port of Novorossiysk anddeliveredmore than 105,000 metric tons of Siberian Light crude to the Kulevi terminal on the Georgian Black Sea coast in October. News about the shipment was first reported byReuters. Georgian authorities defended the legitimacy of the oil shipment at the time, stating that the ship and its owner were not subject to international sanctions. But TI-Georgia notes that circumstances changed almost immediately after the delivery, and Georgian officials have made no subsequent comment on the matter. 'Three weeks after the oil was brought to Kulevi, on October 24, 2025, the tanker Kayseri was placed under EUsanctions,' the watchdog backgrounder stated. It is now one of more than 560 vessels suspected of being part of Russia's so-called 'shadow fleet,' a network of vessels used to obscure the origin and ownership of Russian oil shipments amid tightening Western restrictions. The shipment, the TI backgrounder states, 'raises concerns over why Georgia is purchasing Russian oil and transferring payments to Moscow amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.' The Kulevi shipment was organized by RussNeft, a private Russian company whose founder, Mikhail Gutseriev, is under EU sanctions and whose family still reportedly exerts influence over the entity. Gutseriev has had documented business dealings in the past with Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the impresario of the Georgian Dream government, which has established total control over the country's political system and judiciary over the past few years. In 2012, shortly after entering Georgian politics, Ivanishvili sold $1 billion worth of property in Russia to a group of investors that included Gutseriev. TI-Georgia, citing information distributed by Ukrainian military intelligence, identifies the ship's nominal owner as Kayseri Shipping S.A. The entity is allegedly connected to a Panamanian entrepreneur, Hector Varela De Leon, who was earlier implicated in a large-scale sanctions-evasion operation run by Iranian traders, according to a US Treasury Departmentstatement. The Iranian 'network comprises a vast fleet of vessels, ship management firms, and front companiessome posing as legitimate financial services firmsthat launder billions in profits from global sales of Iranian and Russian crude oil and other petroleum products, most often to buyers in China,' the Treasury Department statement adds. 'The network employs significant measures to disguise its operations' and obscure the involvement of Iran and Russia. The Kulevi refinery is operated by Black Sea Petroleum, whose owner, Maka Asatiani, has close ties to the ruling Georgian Dream party. Meanwhile, her husbandoperatesfuel terminals in the Russian cities of Murmansk and Novorossiysk, while her son reportedlyholdsa stake in a Russian company alongside the son of a senior GRU official. TI-Georgia noted that Georgia's rapidly growing re-exports of oil raise questions about whether Georgia is helping Russia to earn revenue from improper sales. Official Georgian data shows that re-exports of oil and oil products have risen exponentially since 2021, the year before Russia launched its unprovoked all-out attack on Ukraine. 'The Kulevi oil refinery increases the likelihood of real or fictitious processing of Russian oil in Georgia and its export as a Georgian product,' TI-Georgia states. 'Western countries may see this as a scheme to circumvent oil-related sanctions imposed on Russia.' By Eurasianet
Russia Oil Shipment Sanctions Evasion Shadow Fleet Kulevi Refinery Transparency International Kayseri Tanker Russneft Illicit Trade
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