The export of Ukrainian grain through the Crimea: another russian ship captain is suspected

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Region has informed about the suspicion of another captain of a russian ship, who is involved in the theft of Ukrainian grain.

According to the investigation, in 2022 and 2023, a citizen of russian federation made 3 calls on the Russian ship “Altarf” (formerly known as “Kudma-4”) to the closed sea trade port “Sevastopol” to load looted Ukrainian grain.

Aware of the illegality of his actions, the captain periodically turned off the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and entered into it fictitious information about the course of the ship, which was allegedly headed to the ports of russian federation, and not to the closed sea ports of the occupied peninsula, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

The captain was informed of the suspicion of violating 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 pre-trial investigation is carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Earlier, the captain of the russian ship “Nadezhda” was informed about the suspicion. The man is involved in the transportation of stolen Ukrainian grain.

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 the 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. Therefore, ship captains are accused precisely of ship calls to the annexed Crimea.