Sept. 1, 2025
The tanker Unity, flying the Lesotho flag and part of the Kremlin’s “shadow” fleet, was detained in the port of Murmansk. The reason was an appeal from the Russian Seafarers’ Union, which reported complaints from the crew about wage arrears, non-functioning satellite communications, and serious violations in the ship’s documentation. The port control inspection refused to release Unity until the discrepancies were corrected and the obligations were paid. As of August 13, the total amount of debt to 20 sailors was 4.9 million rubles and 28.5 thousand dollars.
The seafarers reported that one part of the crew works under contracts with Argo Tanker Group LLC, which is not the ship owner, and the other part with FMTC ShipCharter LLC. Moreover, some contracts contain references to a collective agreement with the Russian Seafarers’ Union, which was not actually concluded. Until August 2025, the tanker sailed under the flag of Gambia. Due to the change of registration to Lesotho, the seafarers feared that their contracts were no longer valid and they would not be able to apply to the mutual insurance (P&I) club if the ship owner was unable to pay off wage arrears.
The office of Agro Tanker Group is located in Moscow City, and it belongs to JSC ATG Holding and is engaged in the sale of fuel, according to SPARK data. Since January, the company has been under US sanctions. The tanker Unity transports Russian oil at a price above the established ceiling. In 2025, the vessel fell under sanctions from the UK, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Switzerland as part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”.
Meanwhile, the total wage arrears in Russia are growing. According to Rosstat, by the end of July this amount had doubled year-on-year, increasing from 523 million rubles to 1.04 billion rubles. The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) cited a figure of 1.7 billion rubles (+25% year-on-year). According to the organization, the number of workers at risk of dismissal has also increased by 1.5 times and the number of jobs in idle mode has increased by a third.
The FNPR named the high key rate of the Central Bank, which affects the ability of enterprises to take out loans for operating expenses, and the multiple reduction in the volume of orders as the main reason for the growth in wage arrears.
Why are they complaining? Patriotic russians should be proud to work for nothing in the name of the tsar.
Patriotism stops where the money begins.
Every empty vessel going through the Baltics to refill should be sunk. They wouldn’t need to worry about paying them then.
At least they’re starting to check the documents, you can bet every Moskali ship is violating some laws. And if they have military escort, NATO should switch out of their pink frilly dresses into some big boy pants and help enforce the laws.
“NATO should switch out of their pink frilly dresses into some big boy pants and help enforce the laws.”
Fat chance.
There’s not enough courage for something like that.
You know things are bad when the russian mafia can’t pay those who practically bring money into their coffers.