Ro Marine presents itself as an oil and merchant marine insurance company.
Russian authorities managed to register an insurance company in Norway that issued false documents for dozens of vessels in Russia's shadow fleet. The investigation centers on RoMarine AS, a company registered in the prestigious offices of the Norwegian Shipowners' Association in Oslo. An investigation by the Norwegian financial regulator, Finanstilsynet, revealed that the company never actually operated there and was selling counterfeit insurance policies remotely. In March 2025, Finanstilsynet demanded that RoMarine immediately cease operations and referred the case to the police.
At least 76 tankers from Russia’s shadow fleet were allowed to pass freely through NATO waters in the Baltic Sea thanks to a scheme involving fake insurance certificates. The documents were issued by a shell company called Ro Marine, which posed as Norwegian but was actually owned by a Russian. Journalists found out that the company had no financial transactions and only one person on its staff – an unnamed board member with Bulgarian citizenship. The company’s owner, 41-year-old Andrey Mochalin, worked for many years in the Norwegian insurance industry but now lives in St. Petersburg.