You’ll be able to learn the model of this text revealed Lloyd’s Record Intelligence right here
Final 12 months Bellingcat revealed that Russian ships have been making calls to the Port of Sevastopol in Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, transporting grain from different occupied elements of the nation. The amount of grain exported from occupied Crimea has reportedly massively elevated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and its seizure of Ukrainian territory.
Ships concerned within the scheme are violating worldwide maritime pointers by turning off location trackers in an try to cover their whereabouts — an act referred to as ‘going darkish’. As beforehand reported by Bellingcat, two ships, the Mikhail Nenashev and Matros Shevchenko, sailed from Sevastopol on to Iran.
Bellingcat can now reveal that in current months, the majority cargo ships Zafar and Zaid have additionally joined the grain-plundering fleet, crusing beneath the Russian flag.
These ships are operated by a distinct firm, however they serve the same route — they transport grain from the Russian-occupied port of Sevastopol and export it via the Bosphorus and past.
The Zafar and Zaid have been noticed making the journey from Sevastopol to Iran final 12 months and to Syria this 12 months. Since final 12 months they’ve been operated by the Astrakhan-based Salmi Shipmanagement.
A few of these beforehand unreported voyages may very well be seen via open sources. Bellingcat has obtained satellite tv for pc photographs displaying the Zafar and the Zaid docked at a grain terminal in Sevastopol and a number of other weeks later docked at Bandar-e Emam Khomeini, a significant port in Iran on the Persian Gulf. AIS knowledge offered by Lloyd’s Record Intelligence allowed us to watch the place of the vessels on their voyages to Iran, permitting us to acquire images of each vessels passing the Bosphorus absolutely laden. Information from Lloyd’s Record on the change of the ships’ draught signifies that they unloaded cargo on the Iranian port. This is identical route taken by the Mikhail Nenashev and Matros Shevchenko in July 2023.
Bellingcat additionally used satellite tv for pc photographs to ascertain that the Zafar docked on the identical Sevastopol grain terminal in January and February this 12 months. These photographs, in addition to AIS knowledge, seem to corroborate parts of Russian state paperwork revealed by a Ukrainian web site which claims that each ships have additionally exported grain to Syria.
These revelations come at a time of enhanced scrutiny in the direction of Moscow’s relationship with Tehran. Bellingcat additionally found {that a} senior determine on the stevedoring firm of this Sevastopol terminal has made visits to Iran the place he met state officers concerned in transport.
On March 29, Ukraine’s Prosecutor for Crimea introduced that the captains of the Zafar and Mikhail Nenashev have been wished by Ukraine on suspicion of unlawful exit from and entry to Ukraine, referring to their voyages from the occupied peninsula. On April 24 the prosecutor introduced that the captain of the Zaid was wished on suspicion of the identical crime.
The Zafar Units Sail for Iran
The Zafar, a 37,300 deadweight ton (DWT) bulker, has a number of recognisable options. In accordance with web sites comparable to VesselFinder and SeaSearcher, it’s 180 metres lengthy and 30 metres huge.
The Zafar is distinguished from the Zaid by its 4 cranes, in addition to its lodging block with the bridge. All of those are of a faint yellow color. Each options are simply noticed in satellite tv for pc photographs.
Bellingcat used open sources to tracked the Zafar’s clandestine voyage to Iran final October. Right here’s what we discovered.
As is widespread for vessels concerned in Russia’s grain plundering operation, the Zafar ‘went darkish’ within the Black Sea on October 15 after transiting the Bosphorus on October 13. Going darkish is a maritime business time period used for vessels that intentionally disguise their whereabouts by turning off Automated Identification Techniques (AIS), in violation of the Worldwide Maritime Organisation’s finest practices steering.
Automated Identification Techniques (AIS) present open supply data on the positioning and motion of ships. The deliberate disabling of AIS with out authentic trigger is thought of a misleading transport observe.
The Zafar transmitted a sign on October 15, 2023 on the coordinates (44.82294333, 36.63565333) on its method to the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov.
As beforehand reported by Bellingcat, the Kerch Strait has performed a job in maritime grain plundering as the location of ship-to-ship transfers throughout which smaller ships sail to open seas to switch cargo to greater vessels.
The screenshot beneath from Lloyd’s Record Intelligence platform SeaSearcher exhibits the ‘AIS GAP’ — the purpose at which the Zafar stopped transmitting its coordinates.
Though it had turned off its AIS system, open sources can inform us about Zafar’s subsequent actions. On October 17, a ship with the identical dimensions, options and color because the Zafar appeared at Sevastopol’s Avlita Grain Terminal – a couple of day’s crusing time from the Kerch Strait. This is identical terminal at which Bellingcat discovered that the Mikhail Nenashev had loaded grain in June 2023.
The ship seen on this satellite tv for pc imagery is distinctive. Word its yellow cranes and the form of its bridge, which all match these seen in images of the Zafar.
Moreover, the angling of the satellite tv for pc imagery signifies that markings are seen on the hull of the vessel. Whereas the phrase itself isn’t absolutely legible, we will rely eight letters on the hull — the identical quantity as within the phrase ‘transport’, seen in higher-resolution pictures of the Zafar.
Through the use of QGIS software program, we will measure the the scale of the vessel within the satellite tv for pc imagery. It’s 180 metres lengthy and 30 metres huge — identical to the Zafar.
A number of photographs of the vessel uploaded to MarineTraffic present that the Zafar’s hull is painted purple beneath the waterline. Luckily, the angling of the satellite tv for pc which took this {photograph} permits us to see that this purple paint on its hull is above the waterline.
This means that the Zafar had not but been absolutely loaded with cargo when the picture was taken.
Two days later, the ship’s hatches opened. Satellite tv for pc imagery taken on October 19 exhibits that the Zafar was being loaded with a substance matching the color of grain.
The Zafar had its AIS transponder off for 20 days (from October 15 to November 4). Lloyd’s Record Intelligence knowledge exhibits the ship’s draught was 6.7 metres previous to its Sevastopol port name.
The draught is the vertical distance from the waterline to the baseline; a change within the draught typically means a change within the ship’s weight and cargo. In accordance with Lloyd’s Record, as draught knowledge is a handbook enter carried out aboard a ship it’s not at all times a dependable supply of data. Nonetheless, there are particular situations the place draught knowledge have to be correct for security causes, comparable to passing via main chokepoints. Due to this fact, it may be used as supporting proof when drawing conclusions along with different data — such because the depth of the hull in our images of those vessels transiting via the Bosphorus.
New draught data seems to have been inputted in the course of the Zafar’s keep on the Avlita terminal.
When the ship resumed transmitting its coordinates (at 44.88906333, 36.79853333) after visiting Sevastopol, its draught was at 10.2 metres. This means that the ship was loaded with a big amount of cargo.
On November 11 it headed south and transited the Bosphorus strait, the place it was photographed absolutely laden by co-author Yörük Işık.
In accordance with AIS knowledge obtained from Lloyd’s Record Intelligence, the Zafar transited the Suez Canal on November 18 in the direction of the Pink Sea. On the time it was utilizing the vacation spot area throughout the AIS knowledge to point “TO ORDER”, quite than stating a subsequent port of name.
The Zafar anchored off the coast of Iran in early December. On December 12, it lastly docked on the Bandar-e Emam Khomeini terminal. AIS knowledge exhibits that the Zafar was docked at 30.43933333, 49.04966.
Within the speedy neighborhood there was just one ship with the identical dimensions. The opposite options, such because the yellow cranes, additionally stand out.
Information from Lloyd’s Record Intelligence exhibits that the ship’s draught dropped significantly from 10.7 metres to six.7 earlier than it left on December 18. As the utmost draught of the Zafar is 10.67 metres, this implies that the ship was working at full capability and had unloaded a big amount of the substance seen within the satellite tv for pc photographs from Sevastopol.
The Zaid Heads to Iran
The Zaid, a 37,349 DWT bulker, made the identical journey only a few weeks earlier than the Zafar. In accordance with VesselFinder, the Zaid and the Zafar’s dimensions are just about the identical (180/30 metres).
The primary seen distinction between the 2 ships, no less than at present, is the color of their cabins. The place the Zafar’s cabin is yellow (aside from the decrease a part of the cabin), identical to its cranes, the Zaid’s cabin is nearly utterly white.
On October 9, 2023, the Zaid transited the Bosphorus in Istanbul, crusing onto the Black Sea. The ship then travelled to an space close to the Kerch Strait and its AIS ‘went darkish’ after October 11.
On October 13, Planet Labs satellite tv for pc photographs captured the ship on the Avlita terminal in Sevastopol.
Let’s take a more in-depth take a look at this satellite tv for pc picture.
Within the GIF picture beneath, the yellow packing containers spotlight the Zaid’s 4 yellow cranes, the blue packing containers its cargo compartments, the orange its the antenna and the purple the chimney.
Later, the magnifications proven within the circles to the left spotlight the brown substance being loaded into the cargo compartment.
We are able to evaluate all these options to a photograph of the Zaid taken by co-author Yörük Işık on October 30, 2023. The cranes are proven within the yellow packing containers. The blue arrows present the cargo compartments. The orange field exhibits the antenna and the purple field exhibits the chimney.
For additional verification we will once more measure the ship utilizing QGIS. The size match these of the Zaid — 180 metres lengthy and 30 metres huge.
By October 14, Planet satellite tv for pc imagery confirmed that the remaining compartments had been full of the identical substance.
The ship started transmitting AIS positions once more on October 18 close to the Kerch Strait (44.82354333, 36.63712667), in response to Lloyd’s Record Intelligence knowledge proven within the map earlier on this part.
On October 30, Yörük Işık photographed the Zaid transiting the Bosphorus, this time headed within the path of the Mediterranean.
It might take till November 28 for the ship to berth on the dock in Bandar-e Emam Khomeini, the place AIS knowledge exhibits that it stopped at 11:30 am UTC.
Though industrial satellites did seize this space on the identical day, they did so previous to the Zaid’s arrival.
Bellingcat was unable to acquire satellite tv for pc imagery of the port on November 29, however on November 30 AIS knowledge from Lloyd’s Record Intelligence exhibits that the Zaid was docked at 30.43954333, 49.04959333 in entrance of a row of warehouses in Bandar-e Emam Khomeini. That is roughly identical location the place the Zafar was moored.
On December 2, the ship’s draught went from 10.3 metres to six.6 metres in response to Lloyd’s Record Intelligence knowledge, suggesting it unloaded a substantial quantity of cargo.
In accordance with Lloyd’s Record knowledge, the ship stayed in the identical place till December 3 when it then re-berthed in the direction of the northwest after which departed the port on December 4.
There are not any payments of lading (i.e. paperwork acknowledging the receipt of cargo for transportation) for the Zaid’s and Zafar’s shipments to Bandar-e Emam Khomeini.
These can be wanted to ascertain the sender and the receiver of the shipments and to determine the kind of cargo that was transported with extra certainty.
House owners and Operators
In accordance with open supply transport knowledge, Zafar and Zaid’s house owners have at instances been related to the GTLK group, Russia’s State Transport Leasing Firm.
The vessel possession monitoring database Equasis lists Zafar’s proprietor as AM Asia M6 Ltd. since August 2023.
The abstract of a UK industrial court docket ruling from that January states that AM Asia M6 was a part of the GTLK group, which is owned or managed by Russia’s Ministry of Transport.
AM Asia M6 is talked about in a listing of firms which have modified their names revealed by the Hong Kong Firms Registry in November 2022. When inputting the corresponding firm code from this listing, the corporate seems beneath the identify GTLK Asia M6.
GTLK was sanctioned by the UK authorities in April 2022. Its entry within the UK Treasury’s listing of economic sanctions targets describes GTLK Asia as an ‘related entity’.
Equasis doesn’t listing Zaid’s present proprietor. The ‘registered proprietor’ area reads “RPTD SOLD UNDISCLOSED INTEREST”.
Maritime knowledge web site Lloyd’s Record Intelligence, nevertheless, retains observe of vessels’ possession historical past. The Zaid’s final recognized registered proprietor was GTLK Asia M5 Ltd, a Hong Kong-based firm.
Over the identical interval of Zaid’s possession by GTLK Asia M5 (i.e. from December 7, 2020 till September 12, 2023), its helpful proprietor was listed because the Russian state-owned mother or father organisation GTLK PJSC.
OpenCorporates’ web page for GTLK Asia M5 gives an organization registry quantity. This quantity additionally seems within the aforementioned listing revealed by the Hong Kong Firms Registry, the place it refers back to the firm AM Asia M5.
The present helpful proprietor of each vessels isn’t recognized.
Equasis additionally exhibits the Astrakhan-based Salmi Shipmanagement because the Worldwide Security Administration (ISM) supervisor for each ships — since September 22, 2023 for the Zafar and since Might 15, 2023 for the Zaid.
The ISM supervisor performs an vital position within the sensible operation of a ship, defined Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell College within the US. “In distinction to its proprietor, a ship’s supervisor handles the crewing, husbanding, fuelling, and day-to-day operations of the vessel for the proprietor and potential charterer”, Mercogliano instructed Bellingcat.
New Yr’s Voyages to the South
Iran could not have been the one vacation spot for these two ships. The Ukrainian activist web sites Myrotvorets and Kiborg Information declare that each the Zaid and the Zafar sailed to Syria twice in January and February of this 12 months.
As Bellingcat beforehand reported proof of a hyperlink between the Avlita Grain Terminal and Syria, we sought to research the web sites’ claims utilizing open sources.
Lloyd’s Record Intelligence AIS knowledge exhibits that on December 28, 2023 the Zaid ‘went darkish’ close to the Kerch Strait. The vessel would solely reappear on AIS monitoring web sites on January 5, 2024, in the identical space.
The purple arrows on the map beneath symbolize the recognized AIS coordinates of the Zaid in January 2024. Exclamation marks symbolize ‘AIS gaps’.
As soon as once more, we appeared for indicators of the Zaid on the Avlita terminal throughout this era.
Planet Labs satellites captured the Zaid on January 1 docked on the Avlita terminal. The size and the breadth of the ship correspond with the Zaid’s as effectively, for reference see this tweet by MT Anderson.
The Zaid’s AIS alerts resurfaced within the Black Sea on January 5. As soon as once more the Zaid ‘went darkish’, this time north of Cyprus on January 10.
Of their articles concerning the Zaid and Zafar, Myrotvorets and Kiborg Information revealed 4 certificates from Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance. This state watchdog, normally referred to as Rosselkhoznadzor, is liable for checking agricultural merchandise and livestock — together with these despatched by Russian firms for export.
This certificates revealed by Myrotvorets concern a cargo of ‘smooth bread wheat in bulk’ aboard the Zaid destined for Syria, specifying the purpose of entry as both Latakia or Tartous.
This doc’s date of problem is given as January 3, 2024 — two days after satellite tv for pc imagery confirmed the Zaid on the Avlita terminal in Sevastopol and two days earlier than its AIS sign resurfaced within the Black Sea.
This course of would repeat itself in February. Lloyd’s Record Intelligence knowledge exhibits that the Zaid went darkish on February 12, once more close to the Kerch Strait.
But once more, Planet Labs satellite tv for pc imagery would seize the Zaid docked on the Avlita terminal in the course of the interval of its absence from AIS methods, on February 16.
The Zaid reemerged on February 21 close to the place the place it disappeared within the Black Sea. This ‘AIS GAP’ is represented by an evidence mark within the map beneath.
Lloyd’s Record knowledge additionally exhibits that the Zaid’s draft modified from 6.6 to 10.7 on February 21.
The Zaid went ‘darkish’ once more after March 1, when it was final seen north of Cyprus.
As soon as once more, a doc revealed by Myrotvorets regarding the Zaid’s actions in February offers the identical particulars: it was carrying ‘smooth bread wheat’ destined for Latakia or Tartous in Syria.
This doc’s date of problem is given as February 19, 2024 — three days after satellite tv for pc imagery confirmed the Zaid on the Avlita terminal in Sevastopol and two days earlier than its AIS sign resurfaced within the Black Sea.
When scanned, the QR code included within the backside right-hand nook of those paperwork introduced up a web page on Argus-Fito, a Rosselkhoznadzor service for monitoring and issuing certificates issued by the establishment. This web page loaded the identical PDF certificates revealed by Myrotvorets; all particulars have been equivalent. The standing of those two certificates is given as ‘issued’, which seems to point that they’re genuine.
In each circumstances, satellite tv for pc imagery confirms that the Zaid was berthed at Avlita a number of days earlier than these certificates have been issued however not earlier than it had once more switched on its AIS methods. The paperwork don’t discuss with Avlita or Sevastopol, naming merely the ‘Russian Federation’ as the purpose of origin of the shipments.
Nonetheless, open supply data signifies that Pallada has at instances performed a job in provide chains involving the Avlita grain terminal in Sevastopol.
A December 18, 2023 court docket doc from the Arbitration Court docket of Rostov Oblast names Pallada as a 3rd social gathering alongside Aval, the corporate which oversees operations on the Avlita terminal. The case involved two Crimea-based firms and an allegation that one had delivered substandard grain. Each Aval and Pallada testified as to the standard of the grain, claiming that it had been returned to the supplier.
The doc doesn’t point out Pallada’s prospects nor the place the grain was destined. Nonetheless it does give the handle of a Pallada warehouse in Sevastopol at 2 Primorsky Road — the identical handle because the Avlita terminal.
We can’t say for certain whether or not the Zaid reached Syria or if that was certainly its closing vacation spot, as satellite tv for pc imagery for Tartous and Latakia ports for the dates after it ‘went darkish’ within the Japanese Mediterranean is both unavailable or too cloudy.
Lloyd’s Record additionally offered AIS knowledge displaying that the Zafar took the same path to the Zaid twice throughout the identical timeframe, ‘going darkish’ in roughly the identical areas. Myrotvorets additionally revealed two paperwork from Rosselkhoznadzor regarding the Zafar. Nonetheless, Bellingcat was not in a position to corroborate the top factors of the Zafar’s purported journey with satellite tv for pc imagery — neither in Crimea nor in Syria.
Iranian Escapades
As talked about earlier, payments of lading and comparable paperwork aren’t accessible for the Zaid and Zafar’s journeys to the Iranian port of Bandar-e Emam Khomeini. Nonetheless, these voyages happen in a context of formidable plans for deeper financial and transport ties between Russia and Iran.
The ships’ ISM is a small a part of this image. Salmi Shipmanagement was established in 2019 and its director is a person referred to as Nikolay Yegorochkin. Russian enterprise web sites point out that Yegorochkin was related to different transport firms, together with a job as a director at Stal-Flot, a maritime transport agency primarily based in Astrakhan, Russia.
Astrakhan is a significant port on the Caspian Sea which performs an vital position in Russian commerce with Iran — it’s a a lot shorter choice than transiting the Bosphorus and Suez to the Persian Gulf. Salmi has some prior involvement in Russian commerce with Iran by way of this route.
Bellingcat discovered a doc from the Russian Caspian Sea Ports Administration with an inventory of ships that requested ice-breaking companies in January 2024. It exhibits that Salmi ships have additionally been lively between Astrakhan and Bandar-e Anzali on Iran’s northern coast.
The ships belonging to Salmi have been all empty when coming back from Iran and loaded on their method there. Whereas the doc doesn’t specify what the ships have been carrying, they’re listed as bulk carriers or dry cargo ships (Сухогруз in Russian), indicating a chance that the cargo on board was a uncooked or bulk commodity of some type.
Russian corporations additionally use Astrakhan’s port to export grain. Final October, Astrakhan’s governor introduced that freight turnover for grain transshipment from the port had risen two and a half instances in comparison with the earlier 12 months.
Why then would Russia haven’t despatched the Zafar and Zaid’s 2023 shipments throughout the Caspian Sea? In accordance with Nicole Grajewski, a Nuclear Safety Fellow on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace, the longer route taken by the Zafar and Zaid is extra logical. The port services on the Caspian Sea are “unable to deal with bigger kinds of ships and bigger transfers of products, whereas Bandar Khomeini is a big port which may deal with container ships”, she defined. “It’s additionally in all probability extra handy as a result of Russia has already taken these routes, stopping off at Turkey and Syria”, stated Grajewski, who’s the writer of a forthcoming e book on Russian-Iranian relations.
“Because the struggle in Ukraine, Iran and Russia have actually ratcheted up their efforts at financial coordination”, stated Nicole Grajewski, the Carnegie Endowment knowledgeable. “Typically their commerce ties have been weak, however there was a constant relationship in the case of grain. Iran has been a significant importer of Russian cereals”.
Bellingcat additionally found a number of visits to Iran made by Igor Rudetsky, whom Russian company registries describe as one of many founders of the Aval firm whose Sevastopol-based department conducts operations on the Avlita grain terminal. Rudetsky apparently holds or has held main roles in a variety of maritime firms together with Sea Maker and PLC Caspy, which in response to Russian state media is concerned in port infrastructure in Astrakhan.
Rudetsky’s accounts on Instagram and Russian social community VK embrace a number of pictures with Savchenko, a member of the Russian State Duma who’s sanctioned by the US authorities (Rudetsky has additionally been quoted by Russian media within the capability of Savchenko’s assistant). These pictures additionally present that Rudetsky and Savchenko visited Iran collectively.
On October 26, 2023, Rudetsky shared an image of the 2 of them on his Instagram web page, with the caption ‘archive 2021’.
The boys are standing in entrance of a duplicate of an historic Persian statue inside a constructing. Two weeks earlier than, he had shared one other image of the same statue.
Matching options within the foyer allowed Bellingcat to geolocate the 2 photographs to the Espinas Lodge in central Tehran. These options are highlighted within the two screenshots beneath, taken from Google Maps’ Road View service.
This was evidently not the primary go to. Rudetsky’s account on Russian social community VK is stuffed with pictures of enterprise conferences with Iranian officers, Tehran road scenes, and movies and pictures at conferences within the Mazandaran province, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
On October 9, 2023, Rudetsky shared photos taken on the port of Amirabad on Iran’s Caspian coast. He additionally posted pictures in entrance of the workplace of Islamic Republic of Iran Transport Line Group (IRISL) in Tehran (35.799205, 51.474973).
Rudetsky additionally posted photos of himself at enterprise conferences.
The person standing on the correct within the picture to the left bears a placing similarity to Mohammed Reza Emami, an Iranian transport infrastructure official. In 2021 information web site Purson.ir referred to Emami as the previous Vice President of Improvement of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation (PMO). Ten years in the past the Bandar-e Anzhali and Chabahar ports additionally referred to him in that capability. In 2018 Iran’s Ministry of City Improvement referred Emami as an official on the state air navigation firm.
Plenty of clues on this sequence of pictures posted by Rudetsky — particularly a sugar pot and a view of a mosque — allowed Bellingcat to geolocate the assembly to the places of work of Mostazafan Basis in Tehran (35.740714, 51.420887).
The aforementioned Purson.ir reported that Emami was a member of the Board of Administrators of the Mostazafan Basis, utilizing its full identify: the Basis of the Oppressed and Veterans of the Islamic Revolution. In 2020 the US Treasury sanctioned the muse, describing it as an “ostensible charitable group” serving the pursuits of Iran’s leaders.
“The Mostazafan Basis operates as a monetary conglomerate managed by the IRGC”, stated Afshon Ostovar, a professor on the US Naval Postgraduate Faculty in California and an knowledgeable on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “[It] is concerned in myriad schemes and enterprise, invests in home and international ventures, and performs an obscure position within the importation of varied services from overseas. It’s solely unsurprising for administrators with MF to fulfill with international counterparts, particularly Russian. The IRGC does in depth enterprise with Russia already, and one may think about that there’s deep curiosity in either side for increasing that relationship”, wrote Professor Ostovar in an e-mail to Bellingcat.
We have no idea what was mentioned at these conferences nor if it had any connection to grain exports.
When requested about this assembly in a VK message from Bellingcat, Rudetsky instructed us that the assembly was a part of a delegation led by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs together with about 40 individuals from “shareholders and managers of the Caspian, Black Sea and Baltic Ports”. He continued that delegation visited a number of organisations and was proven ports and administration services by the Iranian facet. The assembly “was neither of an intergovernmental nor of a state nature”, Rudetsky stated.
A Rising Ghost Fleet
Cargo ships proceed to look on the Avlita terminal in Sevastopol, normally after the misleading observe of ‘going darkish’ someplace close by within the Black Sea.
“What can this inform us? Solely that the Russians have began to steal grain in giant portions from newly-occupied territories”, stated Ukraine’s Prosecutor for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Ihor Ponochovnyi when requested concerning the look of extra ships on the Avlita terminal in Sevastopol.
“Earlier than the full-scale invasion the harvests in Crimea weren’t giant… However after the full-scale invasion and the occupation of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas, the quantity of grain supposedly produced in Crimea grew to an unrealistic quantity. It’s understood that this isn’t Crimean grain. It bodily can’t be in such volumes”, stated Ponochovnyi in an interview with Bellingcat at his workplace in Kyiv. Ponochovnyi additionally claimed that Sevastopol’s port and the Avlita Terminal have been on the verge of closure earlier than February 2022.
When approached by Bellingcat for remark in a message on VK, Igor Rudetsky stated that Aval has no relationship to the grain commerce nor to any monetary transactions regarding the switch of grain abroad. He requested us to direct our questions concerning the shipments detailed on this article to the businesses or ship house owners liable for buying grain.
“Aval solely hundreds grain, gives stevedoring companies and nothing extra and there have been court docket circumstances the place we now have confirmed that we’re not liable for the standard of grain, which grain was dropped at us or which grain we offloaded”, continued Rudetsky.
When requested whether or not he knew the origin of the grain loaded on the Avlita terminal, Rudetsky responded:
“No. Any dealer who’s on this or that high quality of grain mixes completely different batches. Due to this fact a laboratory can’t decide its origin. It’s worthwhile to move grain by street as much as distances of 1,200-1,400 kilometres. Draw a circle and also you’ll perceive that features Astrakhan, Samara, Lipetsk. Alongside the Crimean bridge by railway to Altai and Orenburg. All these are grain producing areas with a surplus of about 30 million tonnes of grain for export. It’s arduous to remark”.
Bellingcat additionally reached out to Salmi Shipmanagement, the director of Pallada Ltd., GTLK, the Mostazafan Basis, the Iranian Ports Authority and Aval’s Moscow workplace however didn’t obtain replies by the point of publication.
Youri van der Weide, Yöruk Işık and Maxim Edwards contributed to this report alongside Bridget Diakun of Lloyd’s Record Intelligence. With because of Ross Higgins, Michael Sheldon and Annique Mossou.
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