Ukraine: 30 ships visited annexed Crimea in September
During September, 30 cargo ships illegally visited annexed Crimean ports, the Ukrainian Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons reported.
“During the period between September 1 and October 1 this year, the visits of 30 violating vessels to occupied Crimean ports were recorded. Overall, these vessels made 79 visits in the ports of Kerch, Sevastopol and Feodosia. 23 of them were under the flag of the Russian Federation, and 7 were under the flag of other states, including Palau, Sierra Leone, Togo and Tanzania,” the report states.
Another five vessels under the flags of Malta, Panama, Tanzania, Togo and Russia were in the water area of the ports of Sevastopol, Feodosia and Yalta, but did not visit the port terminals.
“Visits by vessels under foreign flags to the closed sea ports and terminals located in Russian-annexed Crimean territory and Sevastopol will be considered a violation of the norms of international law, and as actions undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as a violation of Ukrainian legislation, which will entail the criminal liability of the vessels’ owners, operators and captains” the report emphasizes.
In 2016, border guards arrested the Sky Moon ship for visiting Crimea. In May 2017, it was confiscated by Ukraine.
On August 1, border guards from the Odessa sea guards squad arrested the San Porfyrios ship under the Belize flag in the Ukrainian waters of the Danube, since the vessel had visited the closed Crimean ports on multiple occasions between 2014 and 2015.