A “shadow fleet” was stopped in Odessa: what was being carried on board the ship

In the port of Odessa, the Security Service of Ukraine detained a foreign cargo ship that was part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” and was illegally transporting Ukrainian agricultural products from temporarily occupied Crimea.

As reported by the SBU and the Prosecutor General’s Office, the owner of the vessel is under NSDC sanctions and has systematically changed the name of the ship and formal beneficiaries in third countries to circumvent restrictions.

The dry cargo ship arrived in Odessa under the flag of an African state to load a batch of steel pipes. The investigation found that before the full-scale invasion, the ship called at the port of Sevastopol at least seven times, in particular, in January 2021, almost 7 thousand tons of grain were exported from there to North Africa.

The captain and 16 crew members, citizens of several Middle Eastern countries, were on board at the time of the detention. Law enforcement officers seized flight plans, navigation charts, and communication logs, which confirm visits to ports in the occupied territories.

Investigators opened criminal proceedings under articles on financing actions against the territorial integrity of Ukraine, high treason, violation of transport rules, and illegal crossing of temporarily occupied territory. The ship was arrested with the prospect of being transferred to the ARMA.

As a reminder, on Tuesday, November 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree introducing new sanctions. The restrictions apply to vessels that have been illegally exporting Ukrainian products from temporarily occupied ports since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

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