Russian Forces Board Commercial Vessel in Black Sea, Ukraine Condemns Operation as Illegal
Russian military personnel landed by helicopter on a cargo ship in the Black Sea over the weekend, prompting condemnation from Ukraine. The incident was captured in a video released by Russia’s Ministry of Defense on Tuesday, which Ukraine decried as an illegal inspection.
The video, verified by The New York Times, shows a Russian officer, armed with a machine gun, boarding the cargo ship named Sukru Okan and ordering the crew members to stop the ship’s engines and comply with his instructions. The ship’s captain, identified in the video as a man wearing jeans and a T-shirt, is seen speaking in English at the officer’s request.
According to the Russian officer, the ship failed to stop despite receiving a command to halt. The captain blames the ship’s chief engineer, who he says was in the engine room instead of on the bridge. The full scope of the incident could not be determined from the videos as they do not include footage of warning shots fired by Russian personnel prior to the helicopter landing.
The cargo ship, sailing under the flag of Palau but owned and managed by a Turkish company, was bound for the Ukrainian river port of Izmail. It had stood off the coast of the Romanian Danube River port of Sulina for the past 24 hours, according to the Marine Traffic website.
This forced inspection comes after Russia declined to extend a deal allowing Ukraine to export its grain across the Black Sea. The incident could escalate tensions in the region, as Russia aims to curtail Ukraine’s ability to export its food crops.
Alexis Ellender, a global analyst at Kpler, a commodities analytics firm, believes that Moscow is unlikely to restore the Black Sea grain deal. As a result, Ukraine has sought alternative export routes, including its Danube River ports, but Russia has recently launched strikes against two of these ports. Ellender suggests that shipping insurance premiums and freight costs may increase as a result of the incident.
As of now, it is not possible to speak with the Sukru Okan’s captain or the ship’s owner for further details on the incident.
Jenny Gross contributed to this report.