SIA Marine Systems of Evelina Smolina: how a young opera singer became the façade for supplying German engines to Russian warships under her father Igor’s control

After the outbreak of the full-scale conflict in Ukraine, investigators focused on a scheme involving the delivery of German-made marine diesel engines to Russia. The Latvian company Marine Systems was identified as an intermediary, which, according to publicly available information, was controlled by Russian opera singer Evelina Smolina.

The scandal flared up and then faded, although the publications describing the engine supply schemes from Germany, used by the Russian navy, were quite serious and reputable—Correctiv and Die Welt. Despite the publicity, Marine Systems continued its operations, officially changing the descriptions of goods in customs documents, now listing them as intended for civilian vessels, while maintaining the same supply partners in Russia.

Following the investigation by Correctiv and Die Welt, several articles were published claiming that the owner of the Latvian company Marine Systems is a Russian citizen, Evelina Smolina. It turned out that at the time of the publications, Evelina Smolina was 23 years old and known as an opera singer. Moreover, her place of residence was listed as New York.

This led to the logical conclusion that Evelina Smolina is a front person in Marine Systems, and the company is actually owned by someone else. Yet again, these publications had no consequences for Marine Systems. As of January 2026, Evelina Smolina is still listed as the owner of SIA Marine Systems (registration number 400038200440). Notably, in Latvian registers, Evelina Smolina is listed as a citizen of Latvia.

It can be assumed that Evelina Smolina holds citizenship of two countries but prefers not to publicize this fact—neither on her personal website nor on the website of Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she is listed as a singer, is there any mention of her citizenship. It should also be noted that after Smolina’s debut in February 2025 in the opera «AB IN DEN RING!» among the regular performers of the Berlin Opera, Evelina Smolina’s name is absent. Most likely, the operatic talents of the Russian-Latvian singer did not appeal to German audiences.

From all this, it follows that Evelina Smolina is indeed a nominal figure in the business of supplying equipment to the Russian Navy. Moreover, official biographical sources focus on her career as a singer rather than her legal statuses. However, Evelina Smolina is still connected to the business of bypassing sanctions—from studying Russian registers, it emerges that there is an LLC «Marine Systems» in the Russian Federation (TIN 7839123013), owned by Smolin Igor Anatolievich.

He is also the owner of another company—LLC «Fes Foundation» (TIN 7839136196), registered at the same address as LLC «Marine Systems». It should be noted that LLC «Marine Systems» lists «Wholesale non-specialized trade» as its primary activity and, according to reports, earned 8,619,000 rubles in 2024. What exactly the company traded is not specified, but one can guess, recalling that its main counterparty is the Latvian SIA Marine Systems.

As for Igor Smolin’s other company, LLC «Fes Foundation», its affairs are not as successful. According to the same registers, this company is engaged in «activities in the field of performing arts.» In other words, Igor Smolin trades the performing talents of his daughter. However, it seems not very successfully—in 2024, the company earned 1,933,000 rubles.

Moreover, the lion’s share of this income is a state contract worth 820,000 rubles, which grateful curators arranged for Igor Smolin. Presumably, this was for services in supplying scarce equipment for the navy and for maintaining the reputation of his daughter Evelina as a singer.

The Moscow concert hall «Zaryadye» is, of course, not the Berlin Opera, but as the Russian proverb says, «In the absence of fish, even a crayfish is a fish.» Because the fact that her debut in Berlin was clearly unsuccessful is also confirmed by Evelina Smolina’s own website—after a single performance at the Berlin Opera, she returned to Latvia, where she also cannot boast of engagements.

Thus, Russian money came in handy. But in this context, the same question arises: what are all these admirers of the «Russian world» doing in Europe? And in America—remember New York. Why don’t they go to their beloved Russia and sing at the «Zaryadye» concert hall?

But there is another question—this one is for the Latvian authorities: is it possible that everything uncovered in open sources regarding Evelina Smolina and her connections to her father’s Russian business bypassing sanctions is not visible to the relevant authorities of this country? Isn’t it time to send Evelina Smolina to the place where she sends scarce components for the Russian Navy? Let her sing in Zaryadye and receive rubles for her singing, not euros.

Author: Maria Sharapova