Open burning of oil in the water. Firefighting to wait until intensity drops for safe approach.

Same Ministry, 7 October: open burning eliminated. Rescue vessels on standby. No pollution of the waters by the oil cargo. Combined grouping of Transport, Emergencies, Defence and Krasnodar Krai starting cleanup.

Same Ministry, 9 October: tanker towed to a safe place. Booms set. Sorbent reserve formed. Marine Rescue Service assessing technical condition. The safe place and the towing units are not named.

Kommersant, 7 October: Investigative Committee opened it as a terrorist act under Art. 205. The paper writes “unmanned boats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” No Ukrainian body has claimed the attack. That wording stays Kommersant’s.

ABC, 7 October: fire off Sochi. Beaches in Sirius closed. Whether Ukrainian forces launched the attack remains unclear on that piece.

Pollution, unmerged

Ministry and TASS: no oil pollution. Greenpeace, via Moscow Times: slick grew from 8 to 25 square kilometres over three days on Planet Labs imagery, along the tanker’s route. Mid-Wednesday near Lazarevskoye, about 50 km from the fire site. Thursday near Tuapse. Environmentalists believe a tow toward Novorossiysk. The two pollution claims stay two claims.

Mash, unidentified sources: fully loaded. Kommersant, specialised sites: about 100 thousand tonnes, or 730 thousand barrels. Quantity not on the Ministry paper.

The hull

VesselFinder: AFRAMAX RIO, IMO 9273844, MMSI 636022972, Liberia, crude tanker, 2004, 247 m × 42 m, 107,113 DWT. Last public fix “4 days ago” at the 10 October retrieve. Last port Samsun Anchorage, 19 September. No AIS track 6–9 October in this pack. No painted name retrieved.

TankerMap: registered owner and ship manager RIO ENTERPRISES SA. ISM manager Executive Ship Management. Destination TUZLA on a 5 October fix. Signals notes name Hellenic Tankers as manager. Those two manager lines stay unmerged.

Ukrinform, 6 October, reprinting a Telegram channel: NSDC decision of 12 February 2026 listed AFRAMAX RIO among 90 “shadow fleet” vessels. Not on EU or allied lists on that piece. Owner on the Marshall Islands, RIO ENTERPRISES SA. Official sanctions text not retrieved.

CLC 1992, FUND 1992 and BUNKERS 2001 are in force for Liberia and Russia. No CLC certificate for this tanker is in the pack.

The operational point is the same as Skiros in August: a Liberia-flag tanker off the Russian Black Sea coast, a Russian claim of attack, no Ukrainian claim on the public paper, and a pollution line that does not match across sources.

Established

• Russian Ministry 6–9 Oct claims: attack by unmanned boats; 23 Indian crew rescued, no injured; fire out 7 Oct; no pollution; towed to an unnamed safe place; booms and sorbent.
• VesselFinder: IMO 9273844, Liberia, 2004, 247 m, 107,113 DWT.

Not established

• Who launched the attack. No Ukrainian claim.
• Official pollution assessment. Greenpeace 8–25 km² stays unmerged from the Ministry line.
• Cargo quantity.
• Tow destination and towing units.
• Painted name. AIS track 6–9 October.