As it was reported by the Turkish press on May 15, the bulk carrier “Polar King” IMO number 8711320 under the Russian flag has been illegally discharging sewage since May 8, while in the Aegean Sea in the Turkish territorial sea approximately 4 miles from the coast in the roadstead of the port of Aliaga.
The vessel belongs to the Russian company “Eco Shipping” from Arkhangelsk, which is engaged in maritime transportation services along the Northern Sea Route, as well as in the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf; the illegal activities of vessels controlled by this structure also took place in the ports of the occupied Crimea.
In recent years, sanctions have been imposed against this company by the UK, Canada, the US and Ukraine.
“Eco Shipping” is managed by the company “Arctic-Trans”, which belongs to Artem Andreev, the son of the head of an organized crime group from the same Arkhangelsk, Ruslan Andreev, who was killed near his house 20 years ago.
Previously, “Eco Shipping” was controlled by the brother of the current beneficiary, Pavel Andreev, previously convicted of violent crimes, this company, among other things, serves the interests of the NOVATEK corporation in the North of Russia and the activities of the main operators of the Russian liquefied gas projects “Yamal LNG” and “Arctic LNG-2” Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Tymchenko.
It is noteworthy that “Eco Shipping” positions itself as an “environmentally friendly” structure, since it is engaged in a reputable project to collect scrap metal, which is maximally littering the Arctic coast of Russia.
This project, which also influenced the name of the company, is being implemented through the structure of “Arcticvtormet”, but the relevant Arkhangelsk businessmen are engaged in it primarily because Arctic voyages are often a logistical “failure” due to the lack of return cargo, and therefore the ships are filled with scrap metal so as not to go in ballast.
However, the ships of “Eco Shipping” transport not the remains of the Soviet military machine scattered across the Arctic, but also quite modern Russian weapons.
For example, the same “Polar King” recently made a voyage from Arkhangelsk to the Turkish ports of Mersin and Gemlik, and to the Syrian Tartus, and in early April it left with cargo from St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad for the Mediterranean Sea.
The current situation on the “Polar King” was caused by a breakdown of the fecal pump, due to which the ship could not get rid of the overflowing tanks for storing sewage.
The captain of the bulk carrier Alexander Bulygin and representatives of “Eco Shipping” Matviy Nesterov and Mikhail Moroz in this situation decided not to leave the port roadstead beyond the twelve-mile zone for the discharge of fecal waters, since the vessel was “already registered”, and to “slowly discharge at night” the specified waters directly on the roadstead.
Obviously, such a discharge constitutes a gross violation of Annex IV to the MARPOL Convention, as well as the norms of Turkish environmental and maritime legislation.
Such actions posed significant risks of pollution of coastal water areas and harm to marine bioresources and can be considered a violation of the established shipping regime and environmental requirements of the coastal state.
At the same time, “Polar King” is subject to the control in terms of technical safety of the “Russian Maritime Register of Shipping” (“RMRS”), with the registration number 906556, it was this company that provided the bulk carrier with knowingly fake documents about the condition of the vessel.
Thus, the certificate of prevention of pollution by sewage was issued by the “RMRS” to the specified bulk carrier in the Chinese port of Zhoushan by inspector Vorobyov A. in January 2025, indicating that these systems were supposedly in working order, and subsequently no one apparently checked the condition of the equipment on the vessel.
In addition, the certificate of compliance with the requirements of the International Code for the Management of the Safe Operation of Ships and Pollution Prevention, issued by the “RMRS” to “Eco Shipping” in Arkhangelsk in May 2024 and “updated” in August 2025, has all the signs of a purely formal “indulgence”.
Thus, the case of the “Polar King” not only once again confirms the danger of vessels controlled by Russian beneficiaries to the marine environment and safety, but also clearly demonstrates the true attitude of “Eco Shipping” to ecology, contrary to the previously artificially formed image of this structure.
