Journalists established 5 more facts of theft of Ukrainian products by a Russian vessel

Since the beginning of June, the Russian cargo ship Alfa M has made at least 5 illegal ship calls to the ports of occupied Crimea.

The Russian-flagged Alfa M vessel has entered the closed ports of Feodosia and Sevastopol at least 5 times since June. The offending vessel transported cargo from the occupied Crimea to the Turkish port of Bartyn and to the transshipment of the Kavkaz port in the Kerch Strait. This is stated in the investigation of the SeaKrime investigation of the SeaKrime project using documents from the KibOrg community.

During the first voyage on June 10, the ship loaded 6,500 tons of stolen metal in a closed port and on June 12 departed with it to the Turkish port of Bartyn. Previously, the Russians exported only scrap from Kerch, Feodosia and Sevastopol. Now, metallurgical products have been delivered to the Turkish enterprise, probably from the occupied territory of Ukraine.

For the second time, on June 26, 9,500 tons of grain were loaded onto the ship. The sender of the cargo is the Russian company Kuban-Forward. The grain was delivered to the raid transshipment of the Kavkaz port.

Alfa M made the next flight to occupied Sevastopol on July 5. Then 9,000 tons of barley were transferred to the dry cargo. The sender is the same “Kuban-Forward”, the grain was delivered to the port of Kavkaz.

From July 14 to 21, the ship was loaded in occupied Feodosia. Then Alfa M illegally exported another 8,500 tons of grain to the port of Kavkaz. After delivering the stolen grain to Russia, the ship again went to occupied Sevastopol.

In the evening of July 30, the thief ship called to load grain in occupied Sevastopol. However, already on August 4, unexpectedly for the Russians, the ship’s station on the Alfa M turned on and the AIS system recorded the location of the ship – Komisheva Bay in Sevastopol.

According to the investigation, after that the cargo captain tried to hide his crime of violating the state border of Ukraine. A few hours later, an AIS signal showed that the ship had “teleported” to the Turkish port of Tuzla.

On the morning of August 7, Alfa M “was” already near another Turkish port – Samsun. SeaKrime journalists emphasize that the offending vessel remained in Komysheva Bay of occupied Sevastopol, which it left with 9,500 tons of stolen wheat.

All 5 illegal boardings of the Alfa M, described in the investigation, were carried out by Captain Yevhenii Dolzhnikov.

“Disabling the AIS and subsequent manipulation of the signal indicate that Captain Dolzhnikov understood that he was committing a crime and tried to hide his illegal actions. Therefore, the form of his guilt in the criminal proceedings carried out in Ukraine should be considered as direct intent,” the investigators concluded.

Reference: Dry cargo ship Alfa M (IMO:9419084) sails under the flag of Russia. The ship was built in 2007. Deadweight — 10,407 tons, current draft — 7.5 meters.