The Veronica tanker has been seized in the Caribbean. He is associated with a businessman involved in supplying parts for Iranian drones to Russia.

The Southern Command of the US Armed Forces reported the capture of another ship that violated the American naval blockade of Venezuela. In a message from the US military, the captured ship is called Veronica.

Previously, specialized publications reported that off the coast of Venezuela there is a ship with the same name under the number 9256860. According to IMO GISIS - the Global Integrated Shipping Information System of the International Maritime Organization - on January 1, the ship changed its name to Galileo, and the flag from Iranian to Russian, noted Novaya Gazeta Europe.

The owner of the vessel is now, according to the same database, listed as the Russian company Burevestmarine. But until January 1, according to the Equasis portal, an online database established by the European Commission and a number of states, Veronica belonged to the Russian company MG-Flot.

The founder of this company is businessman Jamaldin Pashayev, who is known as the long-term owner and director of the Olya port on the Caspian Sea in Dagestan (now Pashayev’s share of ownership in the port has dropped below control). According to American authorities, he was transporting weapons from Iran to Russia across the Caspian Sea.

In mid-December 2025, US authorities announced a naval blockade of Venezuela. The US military is actively pursuing ships that violate it. Veronica became the sixth tanker seized by the Americans after breaking the blockade. The seized vessels were either transporting Venezuelan oil in circumvention of US sanctions, or had previously been seen doing so, Reuters notes . Many of them turned out to be connected with Russia.

Thus, the Marinera tanker seized on January 7 tried to take advantage of the protection of the Russian authorities. This ship, like Veronica, after the start of pursuit by the American military off the coast of South America, formally changed its name, as well as its flag, to Russian. The owner of the ship also changed - it became the same Burevestmarine company.

During the attempt to escape the American pursuit, the Marinera was accompanied by a Russian submarine, Reuters reported. Novaya Gazeta - Europe previously wrote that the owner of this company is Crimean businessman Ilya Bugai. The Sistema publication connected Bugai with former Ukrainian politician Viktor Baransky, who moved to Russia, and fugitive Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor.

The tankers M Sophia and Olina, captured by the Americans last week, were previously subject to sanctions for transporting Russian oil. The crew of another hijacked ship, Skipper, is mostly Russian, according to The New York Times. Skipper is under the control of Ukrainian businessman Viktor Artemov, who moved from Russia to Switzerland, American authorities said. In 2022, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Artemov for transporting Iranian oil and cooperation with Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The MG-Flot company has owned the Veronica vessel since March 2022. Data about the owners of the company is currently not available in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. However, in September 2025, the press service of the St. Petersburg courts named the sole founder of this company as businessman Jamaldin Pashayev, who is known as the long-term owner and director of the Olya port on the Caspian Sea in Dagestan.

Then Pashayev was found guilty on charges of bribing an official of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and was sentenced to seven years probation and a 1.5 million ruble fine. The prosecution of MG-Fleet director Alexander Munin was suspended due to his participation in the war in Ukraine.

MG-Flot itself, which was previously called Transmorflot, came under US sanctions in 2022 due to its participation in the transportation of Russian weapons. Pashayev was sanctioned in 2024 because MG-Fleet, according to American authorities, transported weapons from Iran to Russia across the Caspian Sea, including parts for drones, which were assembled in the Alabuga special economic zone.