‘Shtandart‘, 2009, Vladimir Martus’ refusal to comply with safety regulations falsely presented as political opposition to Putin’s regime.

Short URL : https://bit.ly/shtandart-litigation

The escape from Russia by the Shtandart, in 2009, is the keystone of a toxic narrative ‘justifying’ the violation of European sanctions by this vessel. It is recalled at every public intervention, without being questioned. No one in France has looked into the writings in Russian, including those from the hand of Vladimir Martus, the captain/owner, showing that this dispute has been over since July 2020 and that it was not political, but concerned the safety of the Shtandart‘s passengers. It also appears that the dispute could only be resolved with support from the highest level of the Russian government.

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1. The Russian sources debunking the fiction of the ship Shtandart‘s political “exile”
2. Shtandart, an emblematic St Petersburg ship, the object of patriotic fervour
3. A dispute over safety rules, which Martus leads to a dead end.
4. A dispute resolved at the same time as the launch of an expedition under the high patronage of Vladimir Putin.
5. Why didn’t the Shtandart return to St. Petersburg after July 2020?

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1. The Russian sources debunking the fiction of the ship Shtandart‘s political “exile”

The 13 Russian documents presented below, some in Vladimir Martus‘s own handwriting, nullify the rhetoric put forward by the Shtandart and its networks of influence regarding the alleged reasons for its rabid determination to circumvent European port sanctions. They will support the debunking work performed in the following parts of this article.

• Комсомо́льская пра́вда, 21/09/2007 – Символ города фрегат «Штандарт» признали кучей дров
  Komsomolskaïa Pravda, 21/09/2007 – Symbole de la ville, la frégate “Shtandart” a été reconnue comme un tas de bois de chauffage
• Лениздат.ру, 10/07/2008 – Владимир Мартусь: Причина конфликта « «Штандарт » vs Росморречнадзор » – слишком большая сумма контракта
  Lenizdat.ru 10/07/2008 – Vladimir Martus : La raison du conflit “Sthandard contre Rosmorrechnadzor” est un contrat trop important
• Коммерсантъ, 20/11/2008 – Парусник « Штандарт » топят в « Русском стандарте »
  Kommersant, 20/11/2008 – Le voilier “Shtandart” en train d’être coulé dans la vodka “Russian Standard”
• Деловой Петербург, 25/08/2009 – Символ праздника выпускников « Алые паруса » могут продать
  Delovoy Peterburg, 25/08/2009 – Le symbole de la fête des diplômés, “Scarlet Sails”, peut être vendu
• Комсомо́льская пра́вда, 04/11/2009 – «Штандарт» поступает нестандартно
  Komsomolskaïa Pravda, 04/11/2009 – Le “Shtandart” sort de la boîte
• Деловой Петербург, 17/06/2010 – Ространснадзор: фрегат « Штандарт » нельзя пускать на « Алые паруса »
  Delovoy Peterburg, 17/06/2010 – Rostransnadzor — la frégate “Shtandard” ne devrait pas être autorisée aux “Scarlet Sails”
• ЖИЗНЬ МЕЧТЫ, 27/07/2018 – Капитан Владимир Мартусь и его воплощенная мечта — фрегат Штандарт
  Zhizn’ mechty, 27/07/2018 – Le capitaine Vladimir Martus et son rêve devenu réalité — la frégate Shtandart
• Русское географическое общество, 06/07/2020 – Путешествие сквозь века: в год 250-летия Чесменского сражения к греческим островам отправится уникальная экспедиция
  Société russe de géographie, 06/07/2020 – Voyages à travers les siècles : l’année du 250e anniversaire de la bataille de Tchesmé, une expédition unique partira pour les îles grecques
• Frigate Shtandart, Instagram, 14/07/2020 – Cудну «Штандарт» законно разрешили плавать в России
  Frigate Shtandart, Instagram, 14/07/2020 – Le navire “Shtandart” légalement autorisé à naviguer en Russie
• Facebook, Фрегат «Штандарт»,  20/07/2020 – Новость про то что фрегат Штандарт может вернуться в Петербург спустя 11 лет 
  Facebook, Фрегат «Штандарт»,  20/07/2020 – La frégate russe pourrait revenir à Saint-Pétersbourg après 11 ans
• Shtandart.ru, 20/07/2020 – Ждём «Штандарт» в Петербурге!
  Shtandart.ru, 20/07/2020 – Nous attendons le “Shtandart” à Saint-Pétersbourg !
• Комсомо́льская пра́вда, 20/07/2020 – Легендарный фрегат «Штандарт» может вернуться в Санкт-Петербург из изгнания
  Komsomolskaïa Pravda, 20/07/2020 – La légendaire frégate “Shtandart” pourrait retourner à Saint-Pétersbourg après son exil
• ФОНТАНКА.ру, 21/07/2020 – «Когда российский корабль не может зайти в Россию — это непорядок»: капитан «Штандарта» о пути домой длиной в 11 лет
  Fontanka.ru, 21/07/2020 – “Quand un navire russe ne peut pas entrer en Russie, c’est un gâchis”; le capitaine du “Shtandart” au sujet du voyage de retour, après 11 ans

More Russian papers documenting the links between Vladimir Martus and Russian regime can be found here:

• Originals in Russian: https://bit.ly/na-russkom
• Translated into French: https://bit.ly/shtandart-bibliographie

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2. Shtandart, an emblematic St Petersburg ship, the object of patriotic fervour

It should be remembered that the Shtandart was built between 1993 and 1999 with the support of the St Petersburg City Council, when Anatoli Sobchak was mayor. One of Anatoli Sobchak’s closest associates was Vladimir Putin, godfather to his daughter Ksenia. The launching of the frigate in the presence of the city’s authorities, a military detachment and band, and representatives of foreign countries was an occasion for an outpouring of Russian patriotic fervour. Over 40,000 people attended. The Shtandart became the emblem of Peter the Great’s capital. But since then, particularly in France, Vladimir Martus claims that all ties have been broken with Russia. He presents himself as a ‘victim’, if not a ‘refugee’.

Vladimir Martus… who claims to be “persecuted by the Kremlin” points out that he left Russia with the Shtandart in 2009 because “a group of very influential people in Russia (including Putin’s best friends) made it impossible to operate my vessel there”.

Vladimir Martus quoted by Joce Hue in 76actu, 10/01/2023 (Fr)

Vladimir Martus declines to comment further.

“I won’t mention any names here in writing, but I can explain who opposed me and the Shtandart in Russia. These people are still in power…”

Vladimir Martus quoted by Joce Hue in 76actu, 10/01/2023 (Fr)

In reality, the names are well known, as we shall see. All elements of the purely technical dispute were widely reported in the Russian press in 2007 and 2009. Martus even sued newspapers and inspector Dmitry Atlashkin, claiming damages of one million rubles. However, it was impossible to find a single link between the latter, a discreet Ministry of Transport official, and Vladimir Putin.

This history of details that Martus doesn’t want to give is only intended to preserve a part of the mystery and avoid questions or develop the fiction that interests him, using the argument of authority, because none of this is secret in Russia.

The North-Western Transport Prosecutor’s Office took an interest in the Shtandart in autumn 2007, following widespread media coverage of the conflict between Shtandart managers and Rosmorrechnadzor*.

Kommersant, 20/11/2008 (Ru)

*National Sea and River Authority: Росморречнадзор/Rosmorrechnadzor, now Госморречнадзор/Gosmorrechnadzor.

We’ll also see that the dispute has been resolved since July 2020. But in France, it remains at the heart of Vladimir Martus’s discourse of victimhood and of his network of influence in our country, just as it remains very useful for the organizers of nautical events to “justify” the fact that they are circumventing sanctions by using the services of the Russian vessel Shtandart. Such a “justification” does not constitute a derogation from the sanctions, but it does make it possible to manipulate public opinion and provide a sales argument for the event benefiting from the services of the Russian vessel. In a singular legal and moral inversion, any reminder of European regulations is described as “polemical”.

We can already see that what Michel Balique asserts above is false, as are many elements of his narrative concerning the Shtandart. The invasion of Georgia took place in August 2008, while the Shtandart fled in autumn 2009. Between the two events, the Shtandart was contractually committed to participating in the « Scarlet Sails » and Narian Mar celebrations, as we shall see later. In terms of “fleeing the country”, Vladimir Martus quietly returned home to St. Petersburg between January 4 and mid-February 2022 (Ru), to celebrate Russian Christmas (January 7) with his family.

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3. A dispute over safety rules, which Martus leads to a dead end.

In 2007, the Shtandart‘s problem is a dispute with Dmitry Atlashkin (Дмитрий Атлашкин), scrupulous head of the North-West Maritime and River Surveillance Department (Rosmorrechnadzor) under the Ministry of Transport, its supervisory authority.

We can understand Dmitry Atlashkin’s concerns, as he was appalled by the dozens of passengers aboard the Shtandart, the only vessel of this type in Russia, a country with no specific regulations for this category of craft. Accidents on tall ships can take a dramatic turn. On September 21, 1957, the Pamir, a four-masted barque, sank in less than half an hour southwest of the Azores, taking 80 sailors with her, including some 50 young cadets. In 1984, the three-masted barque Marquès capsized in a white squall off Bermuda while taking part in the Tall Ship’s Race. Nineteen of her 28 crew members lost their lives. In 1986, the schooner Pride of Baltimore capsized in a hurricane north of Puerto Rico. The sinking claimed 4 lives (the captain and 3 sailors), while the remaining 8 crew members drifted for four days on an inflatable lifeboat. In 1995, the brig Maria-Asumpta, from the same owners as the Marquès, was wrecked on a headland off British Cornwall. Three people died. The Shtandart itself lost a man who fell overboard (Radio Svobada 05/03/2003, Ru). On October 17, 2017, the lugger La Belle Angèle sank at the entrance to Aber Wrac’h. The skipper was swept away by a wave and drowned.

« The “Shtandart”, a newly-built vessel, was designed in the image and characteristics of Peter the Great’s ship. Hundreds of them lie at the bottom of the Baltic Sea ».

Dmitry Atlashkin, Head of the North-West Maritime and River Surveillance Department (Rosmorrechnadzor), on Komsomolkaya Pravda SP, 21/09/2007 (Ru)

Dmitry Atlashkin also fears fire at « Scarlet Sails » festival.

“Taking part in a fireworks display from a wooden boat without special fireproof treatment can have terrible consequences, similar to the tragedy at the “Lame Horse” club in Perm. »

Delovoy Peterburg, 17/06/2010 (Ru)

Atlashkin is referring to the pyrotechnic fire that took place a year earlier at Perm’s “Lame Horse” (Editor’s note: Khromaya Loshad “Хромая лошадь”), which caused 156 deaths and 160 injuries.

To this, Vladimir Martus replies that his passengers… are not passengers, but “trainees”. He makes them sign a waiver stating that they choose to board a “sports ship” and that they accept the risks. These “trainees” frequently include children under the age of 15. The price of boarding is called a “membership fee”. Such rhetoric is not to the taste of Atlashkin, the transport inspector, who focuses on the reality of things and risks. He sets navigation limits. For violating them, the Shtandart is consigned to the port of St. Petersburg (Komsomolskaya Pravda SP, 21/09/2007, Ru).

« The Shtandart was only allowed to sail in the southern part of lakes Onega and Ladoga, in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland – as far as Kronstadt and the port of Vyborg. Not so long ago, however, the yacht went on expeditions on the high seas and even sailed in foreign waters. After this, it was decided to detain the vessel and not to release it again until the court had made its decision. »

Dmitry Atlashkin, Head of the North-West Maritime and River Surveillance Department (Rosmorrechnadzor), on Komsomolkaya Pravda SP, 21/09/2007 (Ru)

Martus, as is his wont, do not talk about the substance of the issue, but instead distracts the audience. He retorts that Atlashkin is harassing him because he is alleged to have received too much money from the St Petersburg municipality, i.e. one million one hundred thousand roubles (or €30,615, in 2007), for the 2007 ‘Scarlet Sails’ (Lenizdat.ru 10/07/2008, Ru).

In 2009, at the instigation of the St. Petersburg municipal authorities, the Shtandart is once again authorized to take part in the « Scarlet Sails », despite the fact that it is immobilized at the quayside. It also has a contract with Narian Mar, for the 80th anniversary of the Nenets autonomous okrug. Total sales for these two operations are around 90,000 Euros (Delovoy Peterburg, 25/08/2009, Ru).

Vladimir Martus is given permission to tow the Shtandart to Kotka, Finland, to carry out compliance work on board. There, he violates the instructions, jettisons his trailer and takes on board a crew to head for the Nenets okrug. But Ministry of Transport inspectors are waiting for him at Narian Mar. Warned of this, Vladimir Martus turned back. With his ship, he flees to Norway, then to various European countries (Komsomolskaya Pravda SP, 04/11/2009, Ru). In France, this is the beginning of the marshmallow mystification designed to bring tears to the eyes of the Normandy and Brittany coasts and other shores, about the kindly and unfortunate Russian captain, a political victim of the Putin ogre. In Great Britain, they’d say « bullshit! »

In 2018, Vladimir Martus admits in an astonishing confession that his troubles are the result of his own mistakes (full-blown infractions), committed between 2007 and 2009. Nevertheless, the dispute has reached such a tense stage that there is no solution in sight. Ten years on, the playboy has become a « wise » guru who has learned how to lead his world and how to arouse the unconditional admiration of male and more certainly female devotees. “We have 60-65% of the crew – it’s just girls”. (Zhizn’ mechty, 27/07/2018, Ru).

« I think that today I would behave more flexibly and diplomatically in many areas. But then I was young and sexy. »

Vladimir Martus, on Zhizn’ mechty, 27/07/2018 (Ru)

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4. A dispute resolved at the same time as the launch of an expedition under the high patronage of Vladimir Putin.

On July 6, 2020, the Russian Geographical Society announced that it would be launching an expedition to “celebrate the glory of Russia” by commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Chesme, “a grandiose victory over the Ottoman Empire”, in the Aegean Sea, and honoring the “Russian province of the Cyclades archipelago” (1770-1774). The expedition is scheduled for autumn 2020. It will be financed by the Russian “Presidential Grants Fund”. It will take place under the auspices of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (Russkoye Geograficheskoye Obshchestvo, 06/07/2020, Ru).

On July 14, 2020, just eight days after the Russian Geographical Society announced Chesme’s mission, Vladimir Martus proclaimed on Instagram that his more than ten-year dispute with the Ministry of Transport was over (Ru).

Other publications will follow (Facebook – 20/07/2020, Shtandart.ru – 20/07/2020, Komsomolskaya Pravda SP – 20/07/2020, Fontanka.ru – 21/07/2020). These documents show that the Ministry of Transport has given in to all Martus’s demands. He can enter and leave Russian ports with complete freedom. The scrupulous Atlashkin has lost. Vae victis! All lawsuits are dropped. The Russian Geographical Society could now call on the services of the Shtandart. Martus, hitherto very impatient, declares that he will return to St. Petersburg in a year’s time at the earliest, business is business.

Everyone is able to understand that only an authority superior to the Ministry of Transport and the St Petersburg City Council could have imposed such a turnaround.

This dispute, which Vladimir Martus presented in Russian as a “bureaucratic turmoil”, shows no kinship with any opposition to Putin’s regime, as the pro-Russian French propagandists at Shtandart would have you successfully believe. What’s more, it has been completed since July 2020, whereas these same propagandists maintain, in unison with Michel Balique, that it is still underway in January 2023.

Due to COVID, the celebration of the Russian Geographical Society will not take place until October 2021. Then, Shtandart represents the Russian Federation in front of the Greek authorities and the Russian Ambassador Plenipotentiary to Greece.

As a result, the Shtandart has recently carried out at least one official diplomatic mission on behalf of the Russian government. For this operation, it was financed directly, or via the intermediary of the Russian Geographical Society, by the Russian “Presidential Grants Fund”. This information was never revealed in France, before January 10, 2023, elsewhere than in our lines.

Vladimir Martus’s close links with Russian power are therefore indisputable from a reading of the Russian texts. Furthermore, the personal interpretation of the author of these lines, which does not commit the #NoShtandartInEurope collective, is to believe that the presidential administration directly intervened between July 6, 2020, and July 14, 2020, in order to put an end to the Shtandart dispute and so that this vessel could be a service provider for the Russian Geographical Society, with a view to representing the Russian Federation.

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5. Why didn’t the Shtandart return to St. Petersburg after July 2020?

Michel Balique and his pro-Russian network will tell you it’s because Vladimir Martus is a political opponent. Stop! We’ve shown you the bullshit nature of this claim. The reason is simply money. All this is detailed in the interview with Natalya Aryaeva (Zhizn’ mechty 27/07/2018, Ru).

Once we’ve recalled the fact that the Neva River in St. Petersburg is icebound for several months of the year, preventing any commercial activity, it’s worth noting that the most lucrative operations come from films. At the moment, Russian cinema rather exalts the glory of the men who launch missiles at civilian populations in Ukraine or the courage of those who threaten the satanic West with nuclear apocalypse. The early eighteenth-century firecrackers aboard the Shtandart are of no use, even filmographically speaking.

The second source of income is the nautical festivals. With ten festivals a year, Martus and the Shtandart live comfortably. If the gaps are filled by paying passengers – sorry, “trainees” – it’s a grand slam. In Russia, the Shtandart can look forward to just one recurring festival: the « Scarlet Sails ». But since 2009, replacements have been appointed, and we’ll have to manage to dislodge them. At best, Martus can hope for a second festival, but not much more. In Europe, and particularly in France, if Michel Balique, the Shtandart’s sales representative, does his lobbying properly, thanks to the « Association des Amis des Grands Voiliers », the basket can be much better filled. This explains the imprecations received by our collective, including through the press, when we oppose the presence of the Shtandart in La Rochelle, the Bay of Morbihan or Rouen… In this respect, we can only recommend reading the pamphlet shared on the tabloid “Paris-Normandie” by troll Benoît Marin-Curtoud: “Armada 2023 : in Rouen, the Russian ship ‘Shtandart’ is the target of a controversy (Fr)”.

The third source of revenue is “stop-gap” passengers. We are compelled to quote the unfortunate Dmitry Atlashkin once again.

“Admittedly, it should be noted that “Standart” is not so purely “patriotic” and not exclusively dedicated to educating the younger generation. The prices of the services in its catalog are very unhealthy. Shtandart is a commercial enterprise. »

Dmitry Atlashkin, Head of the North-West Maritime and River Surveillance Department (Rosmorrechnadzor), on Komsomolkaya Pravda SP, 21/09/2007 (Ru)

Back in 2007 (over 15 years ago), Komsolmolskaya Prava SP added: “In any case, Shtandart offers a whole range of services. Basically, they’re all designed for foreigners. For the pleasure of lunch in the ship’s wardroom, foreign tourists have to pay 500 euros an hour. And you need at least two hours. But you can invite 25 friends and taste real Russian cuisine. Get on the boat, eat and listen to fascinating stories about the Russian navy. All this for 5,800 euros (100 people)”.

There are hardly any Russians capable of indulging in this kind of pleasure these days in St. Petersburg. As for tourists, they are very rare. What Russian could afford to take his family on an excursion such as the Rouen Armada 2023 up the Seine for 180 euros per person? The Shtandart gets its money wherever it is, and wherever Martus has a network that enables him to get around European sanctions.

There are probably other reasons why the Shtandart is so keen to fly its Russian flag here, and to stay as close as possible to waxing the harbors, shores and coves of our country, or of any kind of European country that might show the same complacency as France. Given Vladimir Martus’s relationship with the authorities, one can imagine many other objectives, if not missions. Ukrainians will understand what I mean. The benevolent French will be very dubious. So let’s stick to the facts and put aside what we haven’t been able to prove, for the moment.

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