Meydan, a luxury hotel in Dubai, is so huge that it could be described as a mini -town. There is a restaurant world, tennis and golf courses and a large golf course.
However, there is something in the hotel that distinguishes it from traditional tourist destinations: it is an important center of the Russian Shadow Fleet.
More than 60 Russian Shadow Ship Owner or Management Companies have been registered in the hotel area.
It is also marked as the address of the owner of the Eagle S tanker suspected of the Gulf of Finland.
A shadow ship refers to oil tankers that allow Russia to rotate the West’s sanctions.
MOT traveled to the spot to find out why the Dubai million city of Dubai has become a safe haven for the shadows’ ships in the United Arab Emirates.
The topic is also discussed in a recent MOT documentary by the Russian shadow ships. The summary below deals with the environmental risks of the shadow ships.
The address of the owner of Eagle S is revealed as a virtual office
The Meydan Hotel is located outside downtown Dubai, but has a view of the city’s most famous landmark in the Burj Khalifa cloud drawing.
The hotel lobby is met by a friendly porter. We ask for advice to the hotel business center, the owner of Caravella, the owner of the Eagle S suspect of cables.
More specifically, the address of Meydan Free Zone, which operates at the hotel, is the address of the company. This is a kind of digital free trade area where companies are attracted to tax benefits. There are nearly fifty similar areas in the United Arab Emirates.
Just here in the Meydan Free Trade Area, Eagle S and dozens of other shadows are registered.
The two companies on the US sanctions list also have the same address. The companies traded Russian oil in violation of sanctions.
It turns out that the free trade area has moved to larger premises to another wing of the hotel complex. It is a modern office building with a nightclub on the top floor.
Although the free trade area sounds like a wide area, it is actually a office space on the sixth floor of the office building.
There are thousands of companies on a single floor on paper
We want to get more detailed information on why Russians set up companies just to Dubai.
We call a consulting company in the Meydan Free Trade area and ask for tips on investing in a home in Dubai. There has long been a real estate boom in the city. The rich Russians have also bought dwellings in Dubai at an accelerating pace.
Exceptionally, we leave the consultants not that we are journalists. The reason is clear: we want to hear what they would tell the right customers.
The following morning we will meet consultants in the shared spaces of the free trade area, where you can book work tables and meeting rooms. Even consultants do not have their own office there.
According to the consultants, thousands of companies operate at the office of the free trade area-albeit on paper. This is just a virtual office that provides companies with a postal and telephone service and address.
During the meeting of about an hour, it becomes clear that the rules in Dubai are not too tight. MOT recorded the conversation and later told the consultants.
– If you wish, you can transfer ten, fifty or one hundred million euros to your bank account, and the authorities do not ask anything, one of the consultants.
One of the men says he has good connections to big banks. They enable him to easily handle his customers and their companies with bank accounts.
MOT does not tell the name of the consultants or their company. Consultants are reportedly not related to the Russian shadow fleet. There are a large number of consultants providing similar services in Dubai and do not break local laws.
Dubai provides complete protection for businesses
Discussion with consultants is straightforward. For example, consultants advertise non -existent taxation of Dubai.
The owner of the company and his family would also easily get a long -term visa. Everything would be arranged through consultants for a few thousand euros. Starting a business and running it would be completely handled from Finland.
For the Russian Shadow Fleet, Dubai’s essential trump card is a strict business secret.
– Only citizens of the United Arab Emirates can see the basic information about companies, such as the address and the industry in which the company operates. But they also don’t see the owners, one of the consultants says.
This is not completely true. The basic information of the Eagle S owner can be found in the Dubai Trade Register. However, the information is very limited. They show mainly that the ownership company of the Eagle S was established in the summer of 2023 and that it has been reported as ships management and operation from abroad.
We also asked for an interview with Eagle S owner through a Finnish lawyer hired by the company, but to no avail.
At the end of the meeting, the consultants present our office space. We also get around the places alone, and consultants give us permission to describe.
However, we will not find any offices or space where the shadows are behind the shadows. The operation of shipping companies can actually be handled, even from Moscow.
The Russians created a complex corporate network for tankers
Many of the ships registered in the luxury hotel area were originally built on the largest shipping company in Russia on the sovocomflot.
Shipping companies have also been registered elsewhere in Dubai. A total of nearly eighty ship -built ships can be found in the city.
In total, nearly 150 of the Russian Shadow Fleet are managed from Duba.
Ships still seem to be in the possession of the Russians.
The background of the Russian strokes reveals a complex corporate pattern that aims to fade the real owners. The arrangements have been handled by, for example, the Dubain leader of Sovchflot, who also announces that we live in the city in LinkedIn.
One Dubai -based operating manager manager has been able to be responsible for numerous shadow vessels.
In addition, each ship has its own owner company. Again, these companies do not provide detailed information as they are usually registered with other tax havens alongside Dubai.
Energy Research Institute CREA researcher Isaac Levi He has become familiar with the Russian Shadow Equipment and has discovered the importance of Dubai to the Russians.
– Many of these companies are in the United Arab Emirates because it is easy to set up companies with small administrative costs. Russian companies can register as another name for the United Arab Emirates and avoid sanctions, he says.
Also, the United Arab Emirates have not imposed sanctions against Russia. That’s why it is a perfect hiding place for Russian owners.
See MOT: Russian Shadow Ships in Arena.