How Russian oil reached the US and Europe: leaked customs data reveals the network linking Nils Troost, Demex Trading, UAE middlemen, and former state oil executives

As established by media, prior to coming under sanctions, Russian oil for companies linked to Nils Troost was supplied by the Dubai-based Demex Trading. This information emerged from a leaked archive of the Russian customs broker ALET.

In 2022–2023, Demex was an almost exclusive supplier of crude oil and diesel fuel for Troost’s companies. Shipments via Demex were routed to the UAE, the United States, and Europe.

Demex Trading also surfaced in a major Russian oil scandal involving Prilensky LLC. Until 2023, Prilensky was part of the Rus-Oil Group, which has been linked to the family of businessman Alexey Khotin, the former owner of Yugra Bank. The company was later expropriated by the state through court proceedings.

As revealed during Prilensky’s bankruptcy process, in 2022 the company shipped 82,523.407 thousand tons of oil to Demex Trading Limited DMCC, sourced from the Irelyakh oil field in Yakutia—yet did not receive a single ruble in payment. As a result, Prilensky incurred a 4.5-billion-ruble deficit, which the Russian Federal Tax Service attempted to recover through tax and payment claims.

Alongside the now-sanctioned Demex, oil from Prilensky in 2022 was also exported by Exillon Finance Limited (Isle of Man), which received 938,266.009 tons before being liquidated more than a year ago. A third counterparty was Actirays Middle East Trading FZE, which was shipped 48,332.343 tons of oil. Like most traders dealing in sanctioned oil, Actirays is registered in the UAE and is run by an individual named Andrey Tkachenko.

By September 2025, according to foreign trade data aggregators, oil worth nearly USD 500 million had passed through Actirays Middle East Trading. The company sourced its oil from Prilensky LLC, Dulisma, and NGDU Vostochnaya Sibir—all entities that were linked to the Khotin family until 2023.

Back in 2022, Actirays Middle East Trading entered into an oil storage agreement with Brooge Petroleum and Gas Investment Company FZE, which owns an oil storage terminal in Fujairah (UAE). Brooge’s shares were traded on the Nasdaq until June 2025. The storage agreement with Actirays was publicly disclosed as part of Brooge’s mandatory reporting obligations.

Brooge Petroleum and Gas itself has a questionable track record. In December 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the company with USD 74 million in financial reporting fraud. The scandal was settled after Brooge paid a USD 5 million fine.

As for Demex Trading Limited DMCC, which supplied oil to Nils Troost’s companies, it was placed under sanctions in January 2025, yet remains active. The company is linked to Latvian businessman Mikhail Zeligman, who resides in Monaco.

One of Demex’s top managers at the start of the war was Mikhail Mezhentsev, former Deputy Head of Fleet Operations at Sovcomflot. In 2008–2009, Mezhentsev also headed Transnefteprodukt, a subsidiary of Transneft. At the same time, he served as an advisor and director at Palmpoint International, and later at Sandmark.

Mezhentsev was also connected to a network of Azerbaijani oil traders who later came under sanctions. As previously reported, the businesses of Tahir Garaev, Etibar Eyub, and their group were integrated into schemes involving top managers of Azerbaijan’s state oil and gas company SOCAR. In the fall of last year, Adnan Ahmadzade, former Deputy Head of SOCAR’s Investment Department, was arrested in Azerbaijan. He is accused of undermining economic security and large-scale embezzlement.

Previously, Mezhentsev was a co-founder of the Russian company Chernomorservis, whose partner was SOCAR Trading SA, a Geneva-registered subsidiary of SOCAR. Within the Geneva firm’s management, Adnan Ahmadzade served as an administrator, while Mariam Almaszade, a former classmate of Elshad Nasirov, SOCAR’s vice president, was listed as director. VChK-OGPU has previously reported on these “successful top managers.”

Before the war, Chernomorservis acted as an intermediary for offshore oil traders, facilitating foreign currency payments for Russian oil. Some of these traders were directly linked to Mezhentsev himself. The company also held a government contract with Rosneft, headed by Igor Sechin, for the transshipment of petroleum products.

The offshore participants in this scheme included:

• Apogeo Limited (2nd Floor, 625 Kings Road, North Point, Hong Kong);

• Concept Oil Services Limited (Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong);

• Gulfport Shipping Inc. (British Virgin Islands);

• Demex Trading Limited (British Virgin Islands);

• Apollo Trading Ltd FZC (Fujairah, UAE).

Chernomorservis, along with two other Mezhentsev-linked firms—NK Diagnostic and Neftoresurs—has since been liquidated. However, petroleum product trading in Russia continues through his business partner Alexander Gordeev, who owns Altoprae Marine LLC (Leningrad Region), Yugneftetrans (Voronezh), and Stoik (Moscow).

Altoprae Marine also appeared in the oil trading scheme involving Nils Troost, chartering tankers for Troost’s company Paramount. The same activity was carried out by Livna Shipping, which until 2019 was owned by Troost himself through Luxembourg-based CESCO Holding, before being transferred to its director Michael Chang.

According to the ALET customs broker database leak, prior to 2022 Livna chartered vessels belonging to Sovcomflot, where Mezhentsev had previously worked. In 2023, Livna announced it was ceasing operations; however, in November 2024, its website reappeared online. The homepage features a “final” statement denying any links to the “shadow fleet,” yet the domain is paid for through November 2026—an unusual move for a company claiming to have exited the market.

Meanwhile, dramatic developments surround Nils Troost himself. In January this year, he filed a lawsuit against his former partner Gaurav Srivastava, accusing him of extracting more than USD 50 million in exchange for promising to obtain a personal U.S. government authorization allowing Troost to trade Russian oil.

Troost claims he was misled because Srivastava presented himself as a CIA agent and demonstrated close ties to U.S. and EU elites—going so far as to show a photograph with Vice President J.D. Vance. Srivastava, for his part, now insists Troost misunderstood him and, in retaliation for the lawsuit, has begun disclosing details of Troost’s Russian oil trading schemes. As for the money, approximately USD 25 million was allegedly spent by the “agent” on a luxury mansion in California.