SSU has informed the captain of vessels belonging to Russian Federation’s "shadow" fleet, which were transporting grain and petroleum products from Crimea, that he is under suspicion. PHOTO
The Security Service has gathered evidence against the captain of a foreign vessel belonging to Russia’s ‘shadow’ fleet, which was detained in Odesa in December 2025. At the time, he was attempting to transport a consignment of steel pipes out of the port city under the flag of an African country.
During the investigation, the SSU established that at the end of 2024, the suspect had entered the seaport in the temporarily occupied city of Kerch on a tanker subject to sanctions, reports Censor.NET.
Details
According to the case file, 2,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas were loaded onto the vessel there, intended for export to third countries.
Prior to this, in January 2021, the dry cargo ship illegally transported nearly 7,000 tonnes of grain from Crimea to North Africa.
To circumvent sanctions during the transport of goods, the suspect constantly changed the flags under which the vessel was sailing, and also switched off the Automatic Identification System (AIS).
It has been established that the captain of the Russian Federation’s ‘shadow’ tanker is a citizen of one of the Middle Eastern countries. When the vessel was detained in Odesa, there were 16 other crew members on board – all citizens of the Middle East.
During searches of the vessel, voyage plans, pilot cards, cartographic materials and radio communication logs were found, containing evidence of illegal entry into the ports of the temporarily occupied Crimea.
Investigators from the Security Service have now informed the detained captain that he is suspected of violating the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.
The suspect faces up to five years’ imprisonment.
