The captain of another russian vessel was informed of the suspicion

The Prosecutor’s Office of Crimea reported suspicion to another captain of a russian vessel that was transporting stolen Ukrainian grain from the peninsula.

The captain of the russian vessel “M. Andreev”, the press service of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol reported.

A citizen of russian federation on the ship “M. Andreev” made two calls to the closed port of Sevastopol to load looted Ukrainian grain. Aware of the illegality of his actions, the captain periodically turned off the automatic identification system (AIS) on the ship and entered into it fictitious information about the course of the ship, which was headed allegedly to the ports of russian federation, and not to the closed sea ports of the occupied peninsula.

The captain’s actions were classified as a violation of the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory of the peninsula (Part 2 of Article 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The suspect faces up to five years in prison.

It should be noted that Ukraine and the world have numerous evidences of the facts of the export of stolen grain from the occupied territories. This is evidenced by both satellite data and indicators of “export” of grain from Crimea, which more than doubled immediately after russian invasion of Ukraine and the occupation of regions in the south of the country.

However, it is currently impossible to bring ships, their crews and owners to account for the export of looted grain. Footage from the satellite and the fact that the AIS was turned off are not direct evidence that can be used by the prosecutor’s office. That is why ship captains are accused precisely of ship calls to the annexed Crimea.

Read also: Export of Ukrainian grain through Crimea: another russian ship captain is suspected