Ukraine detains foreign vessel it says was exporting stolen grain
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Ukraine's SBU state security service detained a foreign vessel that it said was part of Russia's "shadow fleet" used to sell looted Ukrainian grain.
PHOTO: X/@VISEGRAD24
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KYIV - Ukraine has detained a foreign vessel in its territorial waters which it alleges was involved in the illegal trade of stolen Ukrainian grain, the SBU state security service said on April 25.
Kyiv has accused Russia of trading stolen Ukrainian grain since Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, allegations Russia denies.
Ship seizures, however, have been rare.
"The investigation found that the arrested vessel was part of Russia's 'shadow' fleet, which the Kremlin uses to sell looted Ukrainian grain to third countries," the SBU said on the Telegram messaging service.
It said that at the end of 2024, the same vessel had exported from the Crimean port of Sevastopol 5,000 tonnes of wheat stolen from the occupied southern Ukrainian territory.
The SBU said the vessel had carried out an illegal raid under the flag of an Asian country to export the grain. It gave no more details.
In July 2024, Ukraine seized a foreign cargo ship on the Danube River and detained the captain on suspicion of helping Moscow export Ukrainian grain from Russian-occupied Crimea.
Findings of its investigation into that case were not reported. REUTERS
