The organizer of the Ukrainian grain theft scheme through the Crimea was informed of the suspicion
6.10.2022 - 11:45
The Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol reported in absentia about the suspicion of the organizer of the Ukrainian grain transportation scheme through Crimea annexed by russia.
The prosecutor’s office of the autonomous region informed in absentia about the suspicion of the general director of the russian company that owns the vessels that are used in the scheme of transporting looted Ukrainian grain through the occupied Crimea to third countries.
The suspect’s actions were classified as organizing violations of the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine (Part 3 of Article 27 and Part 2 of Article 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The sanction of the article provides imprisonment for up to five years.
The suspect is a citizen of russian federation. As the general director of the shipping company “Crane Marine Contractor”, he organized route schemes and managed systematic illegal violations of the order of entry/exit from/to the temporarily occupied peninsula, according to the prosecutor’s office.
In particular, the investigation established, that the ships “Matros Pozynych”, “Mikhail Nenashev” and “Matros Koshka”, which are owned by the company, in February-June systematically illegally entered the closed port of Sevastopol and left it with a cargo of grain stolen for temporary occupied territories of Ukraine.
We would like to remind, that in July the captains of the russian vessels “Matros Pozynych” and “Mikhail Nenashev” received suspicions. The captains of the vessels “Matros Koshka” and “Amur-2501” received suspicions in September.
Satellite images show that russian ships regularly load grain in Sevastopol. In addition, the indicators of grain shipments from Crimea increased sharply after the russian invasion of Ukraine: 100 thousand tons of grain every month, against 45 thousand tons of grain in January.
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.
