John Helmer, a long-term Russian correspondent for a variety of titles, has launched a book this week looking at the UK court battles Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest shipping line, fought for more than a decade.
Entitled Sovcomplot: How pirates tried to capture the treasure of the Russian seas, and were caught out, the 240-page tome also includes more recent history such as the sanctions placed against it and its Dubai subsidiary Sun Ship Management in the wake of war with Ukraine.
“The plot itself is reported for shipping industry experts who have never before had the opportunity to open Russian state secrets like these. The book is also for rival oil and gas trade and tanker company executives. It’s for readers who want to watch Putin up close and personal as he’s not been seen before,” promotional material for the book states.
As a Russian shipping correspondent for a number of international maritime titles, Helmer told Splash he was attacked by Sergei Frank, Sovcomflot’s long-term boss, at the High Court in London. “You might say he inspired me,” Helmer said.
In conversation with Splash, Helmer said today’s sanctions against Russia – and Sovcomflot in particular – had divided the international shipping community.
“It’s not a community any longer, at least not as it was,” Helmer said, adding: “This break-up has meant that Chinese, Indian, Greek and other fleet operators, brokers, port authorities and regulators are going to treat the US, UK and EU sanctions as illegal and ignore them. They feel comfortable dealing with Sovcomflot; they aren’t going to advertise this for the obvious reason that the war has put a stop to transparency in ship chartering, oil cargo pricing, and vessel tracking as we’ve been accustomed to them.”
Splash contacts connected to the multiple corruption court cases involving Sovcomflot that stretched on for more than a decade in the UK suggest the total costs involved topped more than £1bn ($1.26bn) in the end when finally concluded two years ago.
Splash readers can buy the book here.
