2023-08-15 22:01:00
On August 15, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation showed footage of the surveillance by the Russian military of the dry cargo ship “Shukra Akan”, which was moving to the Ukrainian port of Izmail in the Odesa region and was stopped on August 13 by the patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet “Vasyl Bykav”.
The video begins with a Ka-29 helicopter flying around the ship, then a group of Russian military personnel disembarks on the ship. The department reports that the military “checked the documentation” and conducted “oversight activities”, claiming that all this was “conducted professionally, in accordance with the requirements of international documents”.
In the footage after the plane flew over, you can see a man in a military uniform and people standing on the deck on their knees with their hands behind their heads. Then the soldiers with weapons run into the wheelhouse and put the crew members who are there on their knees. The captain is asked why he did not stop the dry cargo. With the help of a colleague who helps with the translation, the captain replies that he “misunderstood.”
According to the tracking service Marine Traffic, after the inspection, the vessel changed its port of destination and headed to Romania. A dry cargo ship under the Palau flag left the port of Chalkida in Greece. A representative of the company that owns the dry cargo told CNN that the vessel was empty at the time of the inspection. It went to Ishmael for grain.
The authorities of Ukraine, commenting on the incident, called the actions of the Russian side “an open disregard for the rights of the Black Sea states to free navigation and the peaceful passage of their ships through the territorial sea of coastal countries.” Kyiv called on the international community to respond to the situation. The Russian military previously stated that after the termination of the grain corridor, they would consider merchant ships going to Ukrainian ports as military targets. In response, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine also announced that all ships that come to the ports of Russia and the occupied territories will be considered as military targets. The Russian service of the BBC notes that this is the first case of shelling of a commercial vessel outside Ukrainian ports since Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement.
#Ministry #Defense #Russian #Federation #showed #footage #detention #dry #cargo #ship #Ukraine #ships #crew #brought #knees