The Cameroon-flagged vessel was arrested this week in a Ukrainian port on the Danube
The safety companies of Ukraine they arrested a foreigner cargo ship for alleged unlawful transportation of grain via the closed Black Sea ports of the Russian-occupied Crimea, the nation’s Prosecutor Basic’s Workplace introduced yesterday, Politico wrote.
The Cameroonian-flagged USKO MFU entered and exited the port of Sevastopol on the occupied Crimean peninsula in November 2023 and once more in Might this yr, violating a Ukrainian ban and worldwide maritime regulation, investigators stated.
“Whereas in Sevastopol, the cargo ship was loaded with greater than 3,000 tons of grain for supply to a Turkish firm,” the Ukrainian prosecutor’s workplace stated. USKO subsequently entered the port of Sevastopol to unload cargo from Turkey.
The detention of the ship is a brand new twist within the grain struggle that has erupted between Russia and Ukraine since Moscow invaded its neighbor in February 2022. For months afterward, Ukraine was unable to export its crops through the Black Sea. A UN-brokered deal allowed exports to renew for a time earlier than collapsing final July.
Subsequently, Ukraine was capable of regain management of the western shores of the Black Sea and reopen its sea route for exports. However Kiev and Moscow stay at odds over “stolen” grain exported from Russian-occupied territory via ports in Crimea.
The Cameroonian-flagged ship was seized this week in Reni, a Ukrainian port on the decrease reaches of the Danube River.
Ukrainian investigators say the ship’s crew knew they had been violating worldwide regulation as a result of, earlier than coming into Sevastopol, they turned off the ship’s automated identification system, making its actions tougher to trace.
The prosecutor’s workplace impounded the vessel by order of the court docket. Paperwork issued by the administration of the industrial port of Sevastopol to the crew had been discovered on board. The ship’s captain, an Azerbaijani nationwide, can be suspected of illegally crossing the border into the occupied a part of Ukraine, investigators stated.
The Ukrainian court docket should now resolve what measures to take towards the ship’s captain and should hand the ship over to a state company that offers with confiscated belongings.
“Below worldwide maritime regulation, cargo ships coming into and leaving Crimea, the place there are not any reputable Ukrainian authorities, are engaged in smuggling,” stated Kateryna Yaresko, a journalist who screens the motion of ships to and from occupied Ukraine.
#Ukraine #seizes #cargo #ship #carrying #grain #Agro #Plovdiv
