SSU detains Russian shadow fleet vessel in Odesa
The Security Service of Ukraine has detained a foreign vessel in Odesa that was part of Russia's shadow fleet and was illegally transporting Ukrainian agricultural products from temporarily occupied Crimea.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the SSU.
According to the case file, the ship's owner was subject to sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council and regularly changed the ship's name and formal beneficiaries from third countries to circumvent the restrictive measures.
SSU officers exposed the 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.
It was established that on the eve of the full-scale war, the ship docked in Sevastopol at least seven times to illegally export agricultural products in the interests of the Russian Federation.
At the end of January 2021, the bulk carrier illegally exported almost 7,000 tons of grain from Crimea to North Africa.
When the ship was detained, the captain and 16 other crew members were on board, all of whom were citizens of several Middle Eastern countries.
During a search of the ship, flight plans, pilot cards, cartographic materials, and radio communication logs were found with evidence of illegal entry into the ports of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
SSU investigators have initiated criminal proceedings under four articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
Part 3 of Article 110-2 (financing of actions committed to violently change or overthrow the constitutional order or seizing state power, changing the territory or state border of Ukraine);
Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason);
Article 291 (violation of applicable transport rules);
Parts 2 and 3 of Article 332-1 (violation of the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine).
Based on the materials of the SSU, the vessel was seized for further transfer to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).
Comprehensive measures were carried out by SSU employees in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Odesa region, in conjunction with the State Border Guard Service, under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor's Office in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.
As reported by Ukrinform, over the past five years, Ukraine has seized 68 vessels belonging to the Russian Federation's shadow fleet, including three ships seized between December 2024 and the present.
Photo: SSU