The Security Service of Ukraine detained and arrested a foreign vessel in Odesa, which was part of the "shadow" fleet of the aggressor state of russia. It was established that it was illegally transporting Ukrainian agricultural products from the temporarily occupied Crimea.
It was reported by the SSU.
The owner of the ship was under NSDC sanctions, and to circumvent the restrictive measures, he regularly changed the name of the vessel and formal beneficiaries from third countries. The SSU exposed a russian-controlled bulk carrier in the commercial port of Odesa, where it arrived under the flag of an African country to export a batch of steel pipes.
Photo: SSU
According to the SSU, on the eve of a full-scale war, the vessel docked in Sevastopol at least seven times to illegally export agricultural products in the interests of russia. In particular, at the end of January 2021, the ship illegally exported almost 7,000 tons of grain from the Ukrainian peninsula to North Africa.
At the time of the detention, the ship was carrying the captain and 16 other crew members, all citizens of several Middle Eastern countries.
During the search on the vessel, voyage plans, pilot cards, cartographic materials and radio communication logs with evidence of illegal entry into the ports of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine were found.
Criminal proceedings were initiated under four articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Part 3, Art. 110-2 (financing of actions committed with the aim of violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power, change of the boundaries of the territory or state border of Ukraine);
- Part 1, Art. 111 (high treason);
- Art. 291 (violation of the rules in force on transport);
- Parts 2, 3, Art. 332-1 (violation of the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine).
According to the SSU materials, the vessel was seized for further transfer to the National Agency of Ukraine for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (Asset Recovery and Management Agency, ARMA).
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, intelligence has found that under international sanctions, the aggressor country russia uses Indonesia to export oil and oil products.
Earlier, one hundred tankers from russia's "shadow fleet" have been subjected to new UK sanctions.
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