A warship of the Russian Federation tried to stop a civilian vessel in the Black Sea for inspection

Russia has once again ignored international maritime conventions.

Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine - Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, wrote about this on Facebook.

"According to the russian Defense Ministry, in the southwestern part of the Black Sea, after leaving the Bosphorus, a warship of the terrorist state allegedly tried to stop the bulk carrier SUKRU ORKA for inspection. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russians opened warning fire on the captain's refusal to stop.

Ukraine cannot confirm the accuracy of the information provided. However, the very fact of speculating around this vessel in order to intimidate and obstruct the movement of merchant ships is a gross violation of international law by Russia.

Such actions are a disregard for the principles of freedom of navigation enshrined in the UN Convention from 1982 on the law of the sea, as well as a violation of the norms of the International Convention for the Protection of human life at Sea from 1974, the depositary of which is the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In addition to blackmailing the entire world with food, russia has resorted to terror in the Black Sea.

This act is a blatant violation of the rights of the Black Sea states to free navigation and the rights of foreign vessels to peaceful passage through the territorial sea of coastal countries.

Now the bulk carrier is moving toward Sulina (Romania).

We call on IMO and its partners to respond harshly to Russia's actions and make every effort to end terror in the Black Sea, and take action against the Russian Federation as an IMO member state.

Important: in order to avoid provocations, we recommend that the captains of vessels heading towards/from Ukrainian seaports move vessels as close as possible to the coast of the north-western part of the Black Sea, the territorial waters of the Republic of Turkey, the Republic of Romania and the Republic of Bulgaria" said Oleksandr Kubrakov.

According to the post, it is about the Palau-flagged vessel "SUKRU OKAN".

We would like to add that the International intelligence community "InformNapalm" reported in its Telegram channel that Russia probably lied about its actions, and the vessel most likely ignored the Russians' demands.

IC UAC