The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions against a large network of shadow oil traders who were trading Russian oil in circumvention of sanctions. The structure was reportedly led by Azerbaijani businessmen Tahir Garayev and Etibar Eyyub — a business partner of Rosneft head Igor Sechin.
The sanctions list includes 175 companies linked to the 2RIVERS GROUP network (formerly Coral Energy), as well as 48 tankers used to transport oil. According to estimates, in recent months alone these structures handled crude worth at least 90 billion dollars.
After the first wave of sanctions, Garayev and Eyyub allegedly began mass-registering new shell companies: several oil shipments would be processed through them, after which the legal entities were liquidated to complicate tracking. In documentation, the crude was often labeled as an “export blend” without specifying the country of origin.
Investigators established that despite different jurisdictions and registration addresses, most of the companies shared common digital infrastructure — their domains were linked to the same server, which ultimately exposed the network.
One of the key managers is Azerbaijani citizen Bilal Aliev. Back in 2022, he acquired the Hong Kong company Bellatrix Energy and established trade relations with Rosneft, supplying oil to countries in Asia and Africa. In December 2022, Bellatrix Energy was receiving an average of 151,000 barrels of oil per day. Financing was carried out, among others, through Rosselkhozbank and Bank for Regional Development.
It was also established that Aliev controls a number of companies: Allegro Development Limited, Foxton FZCO, Disentis Trading Limited, Alroy Holdings Limited, Omni Marine and Transport, Zenith Global Corporation Limited, Zenrock Holding Limited, and Lumira Capital Limited FZE. Through these structures, the network may be linked to Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR. In particular, Disentis Trading Limited is believed to be part of a chain of companies connected to former SOCAR top manager Adnan Ahmadzade, who was detained last year by Azerbaijani authorities.
A separate role in the scheme is played by the so-called “Uzbek cluster.” The director of Foxton FZCO is Uzbek citizen Islombek Blakhatov, who also manages Al-Tasmeem Group FZE, Birchwood Resources, and Shreevaani Exim FZE. His compatriot Feruzabonu Abdullaev serves as director of Zenrock Global Corporation Ltd and Disentis Trading Limited.
Another figure is Umid Mokhomodzhanov, who is listed as the owner of Skyion Solutions FZE, Newton Resources FZE, EcoMatrix Oil and Commodity FZE, and Totcor Trade FZE. He also manages Vault Energy Resources DMCC, Sentura Global FZE, and Navratan Ventures FZE — all of which have fallen under British sanctions.
Among other participants in the network are Uzbek citizen Abdilkholim Yuldashov (Fusion Flux Energy, Fadas Trade, Tanzhouli Integrated FZE, RafflonLine FZE, Ethos Dynamics FZE, Colwhich Continental FZE) and Dastonbek Isakov (TradeStream FZE, Rockwell Energy, Ossydey Integrated FZE, Marinex Trade FZE).
Following the imposition of sanctions against 175 companies, Garayev and Eyyub are likely to attempt to restore supply schemes by creating new legal entities. According to investigators, the primary jurisdictions for this remain the UAE and Hong Kong.
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