Captain of foreign vessel suspected of illegal grain export through Crimea

The captain of the San Cosmas vessel was informed of suspicion of illegal export of Ukrainian agricultural products through the ports of the occupied Crimea.

This was reported by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

According to the investigation, in December 2023, the captain of the San Cosmas vessel under the flag of the Kingdom of Eswatini made an illegal entry into the port of Feodosia.

“There, the vessel was loaded with more than 6 thousand tons of sunflower seeds. At the end of December, the vessel left the port. In order to hide illegal activities, the suspect periodically turned off the AIS and entered fictitious information about the vessel’s course into it, which is a violation of maritime safety,” the prosecutor’s office reported.

The captain is charged with violating the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine with the aim of causing harm to the interests of the state, committed repeatedly by an official using his official position (Part 2 of Article 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The sanction of the article provides for up to 5 years of imprisonment.

Recall that the vessel “San Cosmas” was photographed in the port of Feodosia on the night of December 26, 2023, when the Ukrainian defense forces struck the large landing ship Novocherkassk in the military harbor.