SONARROW

OSINT FILE 🔎 Ukrainians 🇺🇦 in Athens, Russians 🇷🇺 in Yalta. How a maritime recruitment agency supplies sailors to Russia's shadow fleet from inside the European Union 🇪🇺. Olga and Andrii, this is their story 🧵

Tenet is not alone. Getting around the sanctions on Russia runs through many companies based in Europe and run by Russians with dual citizenship. Let's name & shame them. Other investigations are underway. 🐙

0rc45.github.ioInvestigations · sonarrow_osintOpen-source investigations: registers, job ads, archives.

Thanks to our partners @debunkcafe.fr and @geoinsider.bsky.social for their help and support. 🫂 Full article in 🇬🇧 / 🇫🇷 👇 0rc45.github.io/en/

No nominees, no cascade of shell companies, they sign the articles, hold the shares and keep a very low profile online. They hid their faces and their Russian passports. We've been able to identify them: here they are, smiling for the camera at an industry conference in Athens in June 2025.

No single registry shows it all. Greece sees a Ukrainian and a dormant company. Russia sees two Russian citizens in Crimea. Ukraine sees an Odesa agency. Cross them, and the facade falls apart. No recruiters, no crews. No crews, no shadow fleet.

Same path for Andrii Dukhno. 🔸 A Russian internal passport in 2014: Crimea's forced passportization could explain that. 🔸 But on Oct 5, 2022, he gets a Russian international passport, which you have to apply for. 17 days later: flight Sochi → Istanbul → Athens.

🔸Online, the group scrubs Russia too: in spring 2022, "Russia" disappears from its website banner. 🔸But in 2024, its privacy policy still mentions "our office in Russia". 🔸And in June 2026, the site still displays Russian Maritime Register certificates.

In the Greek founding deed, Olga Khvorost is Ukrainian, passport and all. In Russia's company registry, for the Yalta company: "citizen of the Russian Federation". Her, and her partner too.

🔸 Dec 9, 2021: flight Athens → Moscow. [source: OSINTKIT] 🔸Jan 4, 2022: the Russian registry logs a new Russian ID document in her name. 🔸Jan 14: she sets up the Greek company online, declaring herself Ukrainian only. Six weeks before the invasion.

Two names keep coming back, registry after registry, from Ukraine to Cyprus to Greece. 🔸 Andrii Dukhno: director and 60% owner of the parent company in Odesa, founded in 2010. 🔸 Olga Khvorost: 40% in Odesa, sole shareholder and manager of the Greek company.

🔸 2014: Russia annexes Crimea. TENET stays. In Simferopol, an office calls itself "TENET Marine Company Ltd, Russia", under the Odesa company's license. 🔸 March 2015: the couple set up a Russian-law company in Yalta. A new company, not a re-registration.

More than forty ads on Telegram, same template: 🔸 Russian header, 🔸 Russian phone number, 🔸 Greek signature. 🔸 And crucially: Departure or arrival point: Novorossiysk, one of Russia's biggest oil hubs.

Yet since 2025, Greece has made breaching EU sanctions a crime: prison for executives, fines of up to €40M for the company (Law 5232/2025). TENET Marine Hellas still appears on no sanctions list. So who runs it?

The Greek front is thin: a company set up in January 2022 with €2,000 in capital, no employees, no declared revenue in 2022-2024.

And TENET claims the Novorossiysk (NVR remember?) office itself: on the Maritime-Union directory, the Piraeus company lists Novorossiysk among its branches, alongside Nicosia and Odesa.

The ENDLESS ad is not an isolated case. From April to September 2026, TENET posts openings for at least six sanctioned tankers. Four are on the EU blacklist, two on Ukraine's list under their former names. Each time "Russian crew only" and not a word about sanctions.

TENET started before the sanctions. On Crewdata, sailors say TENET placed them in 2022-2024 on four tankers since sanctioned by London or Brussels. On one of them, the FOTUO, two sailors held the same post in turn: one hired in Simferopol, Crimea, the other in Odesa.

The ad doesn't name the ship, but it gives its IMO number: 9315446. It's the ENDLESS (ex-SPRING), a tanker on the EU blacklist since May 21, 2025. The day before the ad, it dropped anchor off Suez.

The problem? 🤔 Since 2025, EU law bans any EU company from crewing the tankers of Russia's shadow fleet. Yet the ad is signed "TENET Marine Hellas – NVR". A Greek 🇬🇷 company.

@maritimekiwi.bsky.social

August 26, 2026. Telegram channel Sea_Anchorage. An office in Novorossiysk is hiring a full crew for a tanker: ten positions, from captain to electrician. Condition 1⃣: "Russian crew". Condition 2⃣: be willing to sail into a high-risk area. Next stop: the Black Sea.

SONARROW reposted

Mark Douglas

Interestingly VALENTIN RYKOV has decided to check out Edinburgh after a transit conducted mostly off AIS (although time/speed/distance suggests she didn’t stop on the way. app.starboard.nz/link/x720dj6... Thanks @specialkhersoncat.bsky.social for spotting: bsky.app/profile/spec...

Mark Douglas@maritimekiwi.bsky.social

Resupply underway - old satellite image to show the location of the Gallop Wind Farm

EXCLUSIVE: In a joint investigation by @geoinsider.bsky.social × @sonarrow.bsky.social , we identified a large-scale Russian military loading operation in Baltiysk.

Between October 15 and 16, we observed the Russian cargo vessels ASCALON (IMO 9198226), LADY D (IMO 9349289) and ANASTASIIA (IMO 9349291) loading significant quantities of military equipment at the Kaliningrad naval base, including logistics vehicles, infantry vehicles, MRAPs and troop transports.

A rotation of other cargo vessels also appears to have taken place in the days before and after, although heavy cloud cover over the period makes this difficult to confirm. One or more large convoys are likely already underway. Their destination(s) remain unknown at this time.

🇷🇺🇸🇾 The syrian express is back in Russia! Russian destroyer ADMIRAL LEVCHENKO has been spotted in Baltiysk. As a reminder, she escorted SPARTA and GENERAL SKOBELEV on their return from Syria. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a satellite image showing SPARTA clearly.

@kerstin10785berlin.bsky.social

One more thing! it appears the vessel on the left lower side of the pic could be be the Russian intelligence-gathering ship KILDIN. Who remember her? 🛰️

SONARROW reposted

Kerstin

After staying in Cyprus for 3 months, Russian gunrunner LADY D (9349289) now seems to be heading toward the English Channel, likely with a port in the Russian #BalticSea as her final destination.

This post is unavailable.

SONARROW reposted

maikmarahrens.bsky.social

@maikmarahrens.bsky.social

And the winner is: Russia #shadowfleet

maikmarahrens.bsky.social@maikmarahrens.bsky.social

Another interesting change in the #shadowfleet Cameroon flagged #Chios stayed nearly 2mths in the Petersburg area. Now changed name #Tverdynya. Might well soon be switching flag, as IMO list's current flag as false. Changing to Russia as most peers these days?

We're currently mapping "European" crewing companies, linked to shadow-fleet vessels. A big part of the work is decoding deliberately vague job ads. We're looking for a few outside / expert views to sense-check some leads. DM if interested 🙃

SONARROW reposted

10 Sept

FB post claiming unusual larger number of #Russia vessels transiting out of the #BlackSea passing #Gibraltar westbound with Dest StPetersburg / #BalticSea. Black Sea Exodus ? @auonsson.bsky.social @maritimekiwi.bsky.social @sonarrow.bsky.social @tiafarris10.bsky.social @rfnosblog.bsky.social

SONARROW reposted

Baltic Takes

@baltictakes.com

A Chinese official attempted some of that Wolf Warrior Diplomacy ™ shit. It did not go well. Philippines' Defence Minister Gilberto Teodoro was speaking up for smaller nations and international law at a forum in Korea when he was handed a note from a Chinese official, meant as intimidating.

SONARROW reposted

Russian Forces Spotter

@tiafarris10.bsky.social

10 Sept

🚨🚨🚨 Could WHITE CONDOR I’s withdrawn Cameroonian registration explain why it never entered the Strait of Gibraltar? The sanctioned tanker 🇨🇲 WHITE CONDOR I (IMO 9255244) has been loitering southwest of Gibraltar since 28 July, over 40 days.

🇷🇺🚢 The Russian naval convoy has entered the Mediterranean and is sailing east. The Ropucha-class landing ship ALEKSANDR SHABALIN, accompanied by the cargo vessels ANASTASIIA and YURIY ARSHENEVSKIY, is currently north of Algeria and continuing east.

SHABALIN has previously been used to deliver military equipment to Russia's Africa Corps in the Sahel. This time, however, the convoy appears to be heading elsewhere. As with the previous SPARTA convoy, Tobruk 🇱🇾 or Tartus 🇸🇾 remain plausible destinations.

Both cargo ships went dark on AIS shortly after Gibraltar, following the same pattern as SPARTA. They were already keeping a low profile before the Ukrainian drone strike on LADY MARIIA. Safe to say, that attack won't exactly encourage them to keep their AIS on in the Mediterranean... 🐙

7 Sept

We stopped posting on our Bluesky account. And more and more of you have been following us and tagging us every day. We apologize. We’re back for good, and we'll hit even harder this year. Back to business! 🐙

bellingcat.comTracking a Sanctioned Russian Vessel’s West African Odyssey - bellingcatCargo vessel reported to have transported weapons destined for Russian mercenaries has been shuttling between West African ports since March.

7 Sept

For those who missed it: being cited by @bellingcat.com is what got us back in. Thanks @bellingcat.com for citing our work on the PATRIA, a sanctioned 🇷🇺 vessel previously linked to weapons deliveries for Russian mercenaries. www.bellingcat.com/news/africa/...

SONARROW reposted

bairdmaritime.comUkraine reports successful retaliatory drone strike on Russian warship in Caspian SeaThe Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has reported successful long-range strikes by drones against a Russian warship, two sanctioned cargo ships, and an oil pro

28 July

Another strike on #Russia #Navy vessels in #CaspianSea www.bairdmaritime.com/security/inc...

SONARROW reposted

Dr Emma Salisbury

@salisbot.bsky.social

21 July

What's going on with the Russian frigate Neustrashimy (Fearless) firing its guns off the UK coast? Naval gunnery drills in international waters are lawful. What is unusual is that the frigate chose to do so in one of the busiest shipping lanes on earth, 40 miles off a NATO naval base.

15 July

E PIONEER (IMO 9278686) is yet again in a STS transfer with TRITONEA (IMO 9243318). She is sailing back and forth between 🇹🇳, 🇪🇬, 🇹🇷 and 🇨🇾. E pioneer is among the top tankers by number of STS in Cyprus and is responsible for the transfer of 200K barrels of Russian fuels as per @trbrtc.bsky.social

SONARROW reposted

maritime-executive.comSyrians Outline Future Russian Port Presence in TartusAfter months of struggling to maintain a naval presence in the Mediterranean, and speculation surrounding the future of Russia's tenancy of its long-s...

14 July

Replying to @rfnosblog.bsky.social

#Update on #Russia #Syria #Tartus plans, one pier for naval vessels, one pier for cargo vessels (tbc) @tiafarris10.bsky.social @rfnosblog.bsky.social @sonarrow.bsky.social @itamilradar.com @kaptainloma.bsky.social @yoruk.bsky.social maritime-executive.com/article/syri...

11 July

🛰️ 🇷🇺 Exclusive sat pic : MIKHAIL BRITNEV has docked in Lomé, Togo 🇹🇬 . The 🇷🇺 cargo vessel, which departed Baltiysk carrying military vehicules, does not appear to have begun unloading as of 9 July. Worth keeping an eye on this shipment if it goes to Africa Corps in Mali 👀

SONARROW@sonarrow.bsky.social

🛰️ 🇷🇺 Exclusive HD pic: MIKHAIL BRITNEV loaded military equipment in Baltiysk The 🇷🇺 cargo vessel, en route to (arrived in?) Dakar or Conakry loaded Armoured Fighting Vehicles & Personnel Carriers in Baltiysk 2 weeks ago. 👇 Possibly resupplying Africa Corps or Sahel partners.

2 July

30 June

🛰️🇨🇲🇷🇺 Looks Like DELIVER Won't Be Delivering Anytime Soon 🇫🇷 The shadow fleet tanker has been at anchor off Fos-sur-Mer since 26/06 and remains under the authority of the Marseille public prosecutor. An investigation is opened over an alleged lack of valid flag registration.

SONARROW reposted

tagesschau.deRussischer LNG-Tanker in der Ostsee: Estnische Grenzschützer entdecken Maschinengewehre an BordEstnische Grenzschützer haben in der Ostsee erstmals ein russisches LNG-Schiff entdeckt, das mit Maschinengewehren bewaffnet ist. Experten werten das als Reaktion Russlands auf ukrainische Drohnenangr...

29 June

Machineguns spotted on #Russia #Shadowfleet #LNG #Tanker in #BalticSea Marshal Vasilevskiy #MarshalVasilevskiy 9778313 @pa.nton.cx @auonsson.bsky.social @maritimekiwi.bsky.social @maikmarahrens.bsky.social @leif-11.bsky.social

Florian Flade@florianflade.bsky.social

💥⛴️ Estnische Grenzschützer haben in der #Ostsee erstmals ein russisches LNG-Schiff entdeckt, das mit Maschinengewehren bewaffnet ist. Experten werten das als Reaktion Russlands auf ukrainische Drohnenangriffe. Bericht mit A. Kempmann u. B. Strunz: www.tagesschau.de/investigativ... #Russland