The organizer of the ferry from Trabzon to Sochi is accused of multimillion-dollar fraud.
The CEO of SVS Shipping, which organized the Seabridge ferry service from Trabzon, Turkey, to Sochi in late 2025, is in custody on charges of siphoning off funds.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on November 11, 2025, Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, commenting on the refusal to launch the Seabridge ferry from Trabzon to the port of Sochi, stated that the infrastructure was not ready to receive cargo and passenger vessels. On December 19, Rosmorrechflot closed the Lider Line ferry service between Trabzon and Sochi at Kondratyev's request.
The ferry from Trabzon with 20 passengers departed on November 5th, intending to disembark the passengers at the port of Sochi on the morning of November 6th. The ferry spent 24 hours in the outer roads, after which the vessel was inspected. Representatives of SVS Shipping, the company that services the routes, intended to disembark the passengers and depart on the evening of November 7th. On November 9th, the ferry was forced to return to Turkey.
The arrest of SVS Shipping CEO Sergey Turkmenyan became known on February 11th, although he has been in custody since the end of 2025. The Sochi Central District Court extended Turkmenyan's detention, and his defense's appeal against the arrest was rejected, Kommersant reported.
The case against Turkmenyan was opened under the article on illegal circulation of payment instruments (Part 1 of Article 187 of the Russian Criminal Code) and is being investigated in Sochi. According to the case materials, the businessman sought to conceal the actual financial and economic activity of his company by creating fictitious supply contracts and forged orders for money transfers from the company's accounts.
According to the investigation, a total of 22 million rubles were siphoned off into the shadow economy using such payment orders containing false information. The article charged carries a sentence of up to six years in prison. Sergei Turkmenyan denies the charges.
Ferry service between Sochi and Trabzon operated from 1993 to 2011 and was interrupted during the port's reconstruction for the 2014 Olympics. Attempts to resume flights have been made since 2023, but the deadlines were constantly postponed due to political and sanitary restrictions, Sergei Turkmenyan told the Caucasian Knot earlier.
"Formally, the governor has no connection to the international checkpoint at the Sochi seaport and cannot influence its operation," Turkmenyan noted, commenting on Kondratyev's statements.
He added that the claim of unsafe conditions seems strange against the backdrop of regular international cruises and air traffic.
"Up to 12 flights depart daily from Sochi Airport to Turkey and 18 other countries. The Astoria cruise ship "The Grande carries over 1,100 people weekly, calling at ports in Turkey, Greece, and Israel. And no one seems to care. So why is a ferry carrying four hundred passengers suddenly deemed 'dangerous'?" Turkmenyan asked.