One of the commercial agents transporting bananas to Russia turned out to be a drug trafficker. Special services launched three raids in 2022, 2025, and 2026, all related to a single group of companies, which brought goods from Latin America to St. Petersburg.
A journalistic investigation suggests that people from Vladimir Putin’s inner circle may be involved in the crime, writes The Moscow Times.
In August 2025, over 1.5 tons of cocaine, valued at over 20 billion rubles, were confiscated. The seizure was made on the container ship Cool Emerald, which arrived in Petersburg from Ecuador.
In 2026, the Estonian security forces detained the container ship Baltic Spirit, en route to Saint Petersburg, under suspicion of drug trafficking.
In 2022, as part of Operation Ecuadorian Wind, Russian security forces discovered 50 kg of cocaine in a Baltic Shipping container.
All three cases were linked to the Cool Carriers company. According to the “Sistema” publication, a stable logistic corridor has been established between Ecuador and Saint Petersburg, where drugs are regularly found in containers.
Cool Carriers specializes in transporting fruit from Ecuador and has transferred responsibility for incidents to partners, port authorities, and customs officials.
In Russia, the fruits of this company are transshipped through the MGS-Terminal in the port of Saint Petersburg. By the end of 2025, two of the three seats on the MGS-Terminal’s board of directors were held by Vladimir Borisenko, the honorary consul of the Russian Federation in South Africa, and Mikhail Ganyushin. They are co-owners of the terminal, holding a third of the company.
Vladimir Burlev, CEO of MGS-Terminal, stated that almost all banana imports to Russia pass through Petersburg. His main client is Baltic Shipping, which receives about two-thirds of the shipments. The company is also associated with Ganyushin and Borisenko.
Ganyushin would allegedly have connections with businessman Arkady Rotenberg, a friend and judo partner of Putin’s.
Borisenko was one of the founders of the Happy Järvi elite villa sector owners’ association, located near Saint Petersburg. Another founder is Oleg Rudnov, a Saint Petersburg media magnate considered close to Yuri Kovalchuk. The latter is considered Putin’s personal banker.
Borisenko is still part of the Honorary Consuls League in Russia. The club includes several personalities close to Putin, including presidential adviser Sergei Fursenko, consul of Bangladesh, as well as the co-founder of the league, the honorary consul from Seychelles, Viktor Khmarin, a former university colleague of Vladimir Putin.