A Russian court nationalized the country's largest ship refueling company due to the foreign citizenship of its owners
The Moscow Arbitration Court granted the claim filed by the Russian Federation’s Prosecutor General’s Office and transferred the assets of the “Transbunker” holding company—the largest player in the market for ship bunkering and fuel supply to Russian ports—to state ownership.
The lawsuit against the company’s founders, Joseph Sandler and Sergey Pugachev, as well as the head of “Transbunker Management,” Elena Zavyalova, was filed in mid-April, with the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Rosimono, and 23 other affiliated companies acting as third parties in the case.
The reason for the nationalization was the Prosecutor General’s Office’s assertion that the holding company’s enterprises are strategic and subject to restrictions on foreign capital participation. Investigators stated that actual control over the business was exercised through a network of offshore companies in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands, and that the founders themselves, who hold citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus, concealed the holding company from state oversight. In addition, according to the tax service, from 2020 to the present, the owners have transferred 19.3 billion rubles in profits out of Russia.
This is reported by The Moscow Times.
In 2025, Russia significantly accelerated the nationalization of private businesses, seizing assets worth more than 3 trillion rubles—4.5 times the figure from the previous year. The total value of property that has been transferred to state ownership since 2022 has already reached 6.5 trillion rubles. The main targets are strategic enterprises, seaports, and mining companies, which, after confiscation, are quickly resold to investors loyal to the Kremlin.
Earlier, Russia nationalized a company involved in the development of the game “World of Tanks.”
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit seeking to transfer to the state a number of assets linked to Konstantin Strukov, the main owner of the company “Yuzhuralzoloto.” He is among the top 100 richest Russians.
As a reminder, Yurevich’s “Makfa,” the largest pasta manufacturer, has come under the control of a “pocket bank” owned by the son of Patrushev, one of Putin’s closest allies.
