SKIF-V

The vessel has made port calls at terminals in the temporarily occupied territory (TOT) of Crimea (Ukraine) and has been involved in regular deliveries of Shahed-136/131 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Iran to russia via the Caspian Sea with the Automatic Identification System (AIS) signal disabled. From Tehran, the drones are transported to the Iranian port of Amirabad, from where they are shipped by sea to Makhachkala. They are then moved, along with their launch systems, by air and land to launch sites near Ukraine’s borders – Seshcha in the north (Bryansk Oblast) and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in the south (Krasnodar Krai). The vessel has also been implicated in violations of the "Crimean sanctions" regime.
The vessel is owned by the sanctioned russian Ladoga Shipping Company LLC (ООО "СК Ладога"), a shipping company based in Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea, whose vessels have previously entered the temporarily occupied Crimea and transported military cargo on behalf of the russian state-owned Rosoboronexport JSC (АО "Рособоронэкспорт") for delivery to the Iranian military.
In February and September 2024, the vessel was sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively. On 21 February 2025, Canada imposed sanctions on the vessel.