How An E-mail Glitch Exposed A $90 Billion Russian Oil Smuggling Ring

An alleged email slip-up has blown open a $90 billion Russian oil network, revealing that dozens of companies operating across borders were secretly connected through one shared server. The operation is believed to have played a key role in transferring sanctioned crude to global markets despite Western restrictions. 

Investigators discovered that 48 companies, which appeared to be independent, were actually connected and linked through a single private email server, according to The Financial Times (FT).

On paper, the firms were registered at different physical addresses and presented themselves as separate trading entities. Digital records, though, showed they shared the same backend email infrastructure. 

The FT has identified 442 website domains and all of them used the same private email server called, "mx.phoenixtrading.ltd." Of these, 19 are linked to Russian businesses, including energy and real estate enterprises, several run by Azeri nationals.

Foxton FZCO, a Dubai-based company, is listed in Russian export records as the buyer of $5.6 billion worth of oil. Similarly, Advan Alliance appears in Indian customs filings as having sold $1.5 billion worth of Russian oil into India.

The investigation found that many of the companies in this network do not last very long. 

Customs records show that, on average, each company operates for only about six months, and this makes sanctions enforcement much harder. If one company is sanctioned, it may already be inactive and a new company may have taken its place.

Officials have already sanctioned some of these firms. Eight of the entities linked to the domain list are already under sanctions from the European Union, the United States or the United Kingdom.

The network is believed to have helped disguise the origin of Russian oil, especially crude linked to Rosneft, the Kremlin-controlled energy company. Since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, Western countries have imposed sanctions and price caps to limit Russia's oil revenues. The oil sales are also said to be contributing financially to Russia's war in Ukraine.

After Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian oil, a little-known company called Redwood Global Supply suddenly became the biggest exporter of Russian crude. The company is reportedly connected to a group of Azeri businessmen who have strong ties to Rosneft, which is controlled by the Kremlin.

"These smugglers are making it very hard to enforce the oil price cap. They are making it hard to figure out the true price of transactions. That's why all the ecosystem needs to be sanctioned to save lives of Ukrainians" said Latvia's foreign minister Baiba Braze.

FT exposes $90bn Russian oil smuggling ring.

B.Braže, Latvia's FM: “These smugglers make the oil price cap enforcement nearly impossible. Now they are helping to disguise sanctioned Russian producers. That's why all the ecosystem needs to be sanctioned.” https://t.co/lm70faovNf

— Baiba Braže (@Braze_Baiba) February 20, 2026

Three European Union (EU) officials said the investigation's findings could be used as proof to impose new sanctions on the companies involved. David O'Sullivan, who is the EU's sanctions envoy, said they are seeing more complex methods being used to bypass sanctions.

The network is also connected to traders linked to Coral Energy, a company founded in 2010 by Azeri businessman Tahir Garayev. Garayev has been placed on the UK sanctions list. Investigators found that one of the domains using the shared email system was "TahirQarayev.com," which is reportedly used by Garayev.

Two other domains such as "bellatrix-energy.com" and "nord-axis.com" match companies called Bellatrix Energy and Nord Axis. These two companies have been named in EU sanctions listings as being part of a network connected to Coral Energy.

"The frequent changes of names of ships, managers and oil marketing companies... are long-standing deceptive shipping practices designed to obfuscate the destination, origin and ownership of cargoes and their logistics," said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a maritime expert at Windward, a marine intelligence company.