Sea vessels

The vessel was involved in the theft of Ukrainian grain from the port of Sevastopol (TOT Crimea, Ukraine) with AIS switched off, and its export to third countries through transshipment in the Kerch Strait. In particular, the vessel called at the closed port of Sevastopol on 04-05 July 2022 with AIS switched on, which confirms that the vessel violated the state borders of Ukraine.In the period from 17-20 July 2022, AIS was switched off on the vessel, during which time the vessel called at the port of Sevastopol, loaded 3,000 t t of barley at the grain terminal in Dokova Bay (owned by Avlita and controlled by the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC)).On 19 July 2022, the vessel left Sevastopol Bay and headed for transshipment to the Kerch Strait. On 20 July 2022, the vessel switched on AIS. The facts supporting the call to the port of the TOT of Crimea were recorded by the captain of the vessel and published on a social network. The Ukrainian prosecutor's office served the ship's captain with a notice of suspicion of violating the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory.

It is involved in the supply of jet fuel and other important cargo to the Middle East (to the group of Russian troops in Syria in the interests of the russian Ministry of Defence), and calls at the ports of the TOT of Ukraine (in particular, the port of Crimea). In 2024, three tankers ‘Azov’ (IMO 8943260), ‘Koysug’ (IMO 8883252), and ‘Nizami Ganjavi’ (IMO 9369617) were added to the list of vessels used by the russian federation to make covert deliveries to Syria in the interests of the russian ministry of defence. During 2024, the vessels were repeatedly used by the russian federation to carry out maritime transportation from the black sea ports of the russian federation to Syria under the traditional scheme of concealing entries/exits to/from ports in Syria by switching off their transponders in the Mediterranean north or south of Cyprus. Aviation fuel and diesel were supplied to Syria from russian ports (Azov port), petrol - from Iran. Such steps were taken by Russia after the successful attacks in 2023 by the Ukrainian Defence Forces against the russian tanker ‘Sig’ in the Black Sea, which was carrying out sea transport to Syria to supply jet fuel to the russian troops in Syria.

The vessel is involved in schemes to steal grain from the TOT of Ukraine (Sevastopol) by so-called spoofing AIS signal recorded from the runway of the Simferopol airport in violation of the shipping rules, concealing the true identification data of the vessel while passing through the Bosphorus Strait (masking the IMO number and part of the vessel's name). Since February 2024, the vessel has made a number of routes and transported more than 78 million tonnes of wheat from the temporarily occupied city of Sevastopol to the Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia. The sender of the grain is the russian company Pallada LLC (TIN: 6161095847), which was founded on 03 February 2022 and specialises in wholesale grain trading, while in Syria the grain is received by the Syrian General Organisation for Trading, Storage and Processing of Grain, a state-owned company.

Since the beginning of 2022, it has been involved in the systematic theft of Ukrainian grain from the TOT of Ukraine (Sevastopol) to Syria, Turkey, as well as transshipment in the port of Kavkaz (russia) with the AIS signal switched off, using a scheme to conceal the fact of the vessel's entry into a closed Crimean port in violation of the state borders of Ukraine, partial loading of the vessel in the TOT of Crimea with subsequent reloading by STS in a russian port and registration of the export of the entire volume of cargo from the russian port. In Ukraine, the captain of the ‘Matros Koshka’ vessel transporting stolen Ukrainian grain from the TOT of Crimea to third countries was served a notice of suspicion. The vessel is affiliated with the sanctioned russian state-owned shipbuilding holding United Shipbuilding Corporation (TIN: 7838395215) through JSC Southern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Centre (TIN: 3023004670, under Ukrainian sanctions), which is the founder of the company that owns the vessel ‘Matros Koshka’.

The vessel is involved in the theft of Ukrainian grain from the ports of the TOT of Crimea (Ukraine) with AIS disabled and its transshipment to the port of Caucasus. russia is trying to conceal the origin of Ukrainian grain exported through the ports of the TOT of Crimea, using various methods, including the tactic of overloading cargo in the Kerch Strait and russian ports. In this way, the vessel is involved in a scheme to ‘legalise’ stolen Ukrainian grain and redirect it to third countries under the guise of grain of russian origin. In the summer of 2022, the vessel made a voyage to the temporarily occupied Sevastopol (in particular, the Avlita grain terminal controlled by the United Shipbuilding Corporation) to load wheat (4.6 thousand tonnes), after which the ship delivered the grain to the port of Kavkaz (russia) for transshipment. A Ukrainian court arrested the vessel in the framework of criminal proceedings on violations of the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory.

The vessel is involved in the theft of Ukrainian grain from the TOT of Crimea (Ukraine) and its export to third countries, including Bangladesh. On 23 April 2024, the vessel switched off its AIS off the Turkish coast, and entered the temporarily occupied Sevastopol on 25 April 2024, where it was moored at berth 20. On 29 April 2024, the vessel was moved to berth 21 for loading at the Avlita grain terminal (listed in russian registers as Aval). ‘Sofia' left the port of Sevastopol loaded with wheat on 02 May 2024, according to the documents, the grain was registered for delivery to Bangladesh, the port of destination was indicated as Caucasus in the schedule of movement through the closed port of Sevastopol, the ship's captain was Sergey Ryzhov. The vessel also made three calls to the closed port of Sevastopol in July 2024 with the AIS switched off, loading and exporting more than 18,000 tonnes of barley from the TOT of Crimea.

Since the beginning of 2022, it has been involved in the systematic theft of Ukrainian grain from the TOT of Ukraine (Sevastopol) and its export to Iran and Syria with the AIS signal switched off, using a scheme to conceal the fact of the vessel's entry into a closed Crimean port in violation of the state borders of Ukraine. In Ukraine, the captain of the vessel was served a notice of suspicion that in the period from 2023 to January 2024, in violation of Ukrainian legislation and international maritime law, he illegally entered/exited the closed Sevastopol Commercial Sea Port. In the port, the vessel was loaded with grain seized by the aggressor country in the TOT of Ukraine without any permits and then illegally exported outside the customs territory of Ukraine. The captain of the vessel made at least 6 illegal voyages during this period. The vessel is affiliated with the sanctioned russian state-owned shipbuilding holding United Shipbuilding Corporation (TIN: 7838395215) through JSC Southern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Centre (TIN: 3023004670, under Ukrainian sanctions), which is the founder of the company that owns the vessel ‘Mikhail Nenashev’. The sender of the grain is the russian company Pallada LLC (TIN: 6161095847), founded on 03 February 2022, which specialises in the wholesale trade of grain and is involved in the theft of Ukrainian grain from the TOT of Crimea by another vessel ‘Grumant’ (IMO 9385879).

It was involved in the export of grain from the port of Sevastopol (TOT Crimea, Ukraine) to Venezuela with the AIS disabled. Since 20 May 2024, the vessel has been in the anchorage area of the port of Puerto Cabello with AIS enabled, but was probably not allowed to dock at the port due to the vessel's inclusion in the 14th EU sanctions package. The vessel is owned by a sanctioned russian transport company, TK Nord Project LLC, which specialises in sea freight transport via the Northern Sea Route, provides year-round cargo delivery to the ports of the Far North and the Arctic coast, ensures cargo flow to Europe and Asia, and owns an unlimited dry cargo fleet of 7-12,000 dwt. tonnes, transports general, groupage, mixed and non-standard cargo, special machinery, equipment, containerised cargo, and is licensed to transport dangerous goods of all categories. In May 2022, USA imposed sanctions on TK Northern Project LLC and its 15 vessels, including the "Enisey", for transporting weapons to russia by the company's vessels. In June 2024, EU imposed sanctions on the "Enisey" vessel for stealing Ukrainian grain.

The vessel is involved in numerous cases of export of Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied port of Mariupol (TOT of Ukraine). The vessel was captured on russian propaganda videos from the temporarily occupied port of Mariupol during the process of loading grain onto several russian vessels ‘STK-1003’ (IMO 8326058), ‘STK-1016’ (IMO 8521880), ‘Mezhdurechensk’ (IMO 8948167). The vessel is owned by the russian company Remote Marine Terminal LLC (TIN: 7810707496). Several companies loaded grain onto the russian vessels: - Santrade LLC (formerly Sanagro LLC, TIN: 6168119060, Rostov-on- Don), which specialises in the wholesale of grain, unprocessed tobacco, seeds and feed for farm animals. In 2023, the company loaded Ukrainian wheat on all three vessels. The founder of Santrade LLC, Mishchuk M.Y., is the founder of three other companies registered in the TOT of Donetsk region and trading in agricultural crops (mainly grain), namely: AF Agroservice LLC (TIN: 9306001978), Aleksandrovskoye LLC (TIN: 9312009862) and Donagroalliance LLC (TIN: 9309020224), as well as a metallurgical enterprise - Donetsk Foundry LLC (TIN: 9308024353); - Zorka Food LLC (TIN: 9721152398, Moscow), which specialises in the wholesale trade of food, grain, etc; - Asta Group LLC (TIN: 9303017257, TOT of Donetsk), specialising in the wholesale of grain, unprocessed tobacco, seeds and feed for farm animals. The founder of Asta Group LLC, Asatryan R. N., owns Farm Agro-Soyuz LLC (TIN: 9500011198, TOT of Kherson region), which specialises in growing cereals (except rice), legumes, and oilseeds; Complex Supply Don LLC (TIN: 6166085722, Rostov-on-Don), which specialises in the production of vehicle bodies and non-specialised trade.

The vessel is involved in the theft of Ukrainian grain from the ports of the TOT of Crimea (Ukraine) with AIS disabled, and its transshipment to the Kerch Strait, port of Kavkaz. russia is trying to conceal the origin of Ukrainian grain exported through the ports of the TOT of Crimea, using various methods, including the tactic of overloading the cargo in the Kerch Strait. In this way, the vessel is involved in a scheme to ‘legalise’ stolen Ukrainian grain and redirect it to third countries under the guise of grain of Russian origin. In September 2022, the vessel made two voyages with a cargo of grain from the temporarily occupied Sevastopol (in particular, the Avlita grain terminal controlled by the United Shipbuilding Corporation) for transshipment to the Kerch Strait, the port of Kavkaz. A Ukrainian court seized the vessel as part of criminal proceedings over violations of the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory.

The vessel calls at the ports of the TOT of Ukraine (Berdiansk, port Crimea, Kamysh-Burun). The vessel was spotted on 07 February 2024 together with two other unidentified vessels at the berths. The vessel is likely to be involved in the export of stolen Ukrainian grain or scrap metal from the TOT of Ukraine, which clogs one of the port's berths. The vessel was also recorded in this port in June-July 2023.

Since the beginning of 2022, it has been involved in the systematic theft of Ukrainian grain from the TOT of Ukraine (Sevastopol) and its export to Iran and Syria with the AIS signal switched off, using a scheme to conceal the fact of the vessel's entry into a closed Crimean port in violation of the state borders of Ukraine. The sender of the grain is the russian company Pallada LLC (TIN: 6161095847), founded on 03 February 2022 and specialising in the wholesale trade of grain, which is involved in the theft of Ukrainian grain from the TOT of Crimea by other vessels, including ‘Grumant’ (IMO 9385879), ‘Mikhail Nenashev’ (IMO 9515539), ‘Matros Pozynich’ (IMO 9573816), etc.