Russia boards Turkish-owned Sukru Okan after firing warning shots
Written by Nick Blenkey
Screen grab from video showing troops landing on Turkish owned ship
Video has appeared on social media showing Russian troops boarding the Turkish-owned cargo ship Sukru Okan as the crew was forced to sit on deck. Reports indicate that the ship was in international waters at the time of the incident.
For what it’s worth here’s what Russian state-controlled news agency TASS reported:
“The Russian naval ship Vasily Bykov forcibly stopped the Palau-flagged dry cargo ship Sukru Okan heading for the Ukrainian port of Izmail for inspection, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Sunday.
“At about 6:40 a.m. Moscow time on August 13, the Black Sea Fleet’s patrol ship Vasily Bykov on a mission to patrol shipping lanes detected the Palau-flagged dry cargo ship Sukru Okan in the southwestern part of the Black Sea heading for the Ukrainian port of Izmail. The dry cargo ship’s captain did not respond to the demand to stop for an inspection of the potential carriage of prohibited goods. The Russian combat ship fired warning shots from automatic small arms to forcibly stop the vessel,” the ministry said in a statement.
“A Ka-29 helicopter with a group of Russian servicemen took off from the patrol ship Vasily Bykov to inspect the dry cargo ship. Following the results of radio talks, the vessel came to a halt and the inspection team landed on the dry cargo ship, the ministry said.
“After the inspection group completed its work aboard the Sukru Okan, the vessel continued sailing towards the port of Izmail. The Black Sea Fleet’s ships continue patrols in the designated areas,” the Russian Defense Ministry reported.”
According to the Equasis data base the Pulau flagged Sukru Onan is a 3,270 dwt generla cargo ship built in 1989 and owned and operated by Turkey’s OG Shipping Limited.
A report from CNN suggests that, when intercepted, the Sukru Okan was actually headed to the Romanian port of Sulina, prior to heading to the Ukrainian Danube port of Izmail .
CNN quotes an official of the shipowner as saying that the vessel is now in Romanian waters and waiting to move to the Ukrainian port of Izmail. CNN quotes the official as saying that it is routine for the ship to go to the port of Sulina first before carrying on to Ukraine’s Izmail port, and adding that, at some point overnight, a crew member logged the Sukru Okan’s destination as Izmail.
CNN cites the official as saying that the Sukru Okan’s 12-person Turkish crew was radioed by the Russian warship Sunday, at which point the vessel tried to turn back to Turkish waters in order to get in touch with the country’s Coast Guard and other officials.
Shortly after, the Russian warship fired warning shots at the cargo ship and began following it, according to the official who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity. A helicopter then took off from the Russian warship and more warning shots were fired. The crew waited, and Russian servicemen boarded the ship.
They then searched the ships’ cabins, accompanied by the captain, for about an hour, and also looked through the documents and passports of all the crew members, the official, who was not on board at the time of the incident, told CNN, adding that once the Russians were onboard they didn’t make any threats or take negative actions against the crew. They did make the captain of the Sukru Okan sign a document in Russian, which the shipping company official believes was a statement certifying that there was “no injury or damage” onboard.
“The Russian Navy grossly violated the UN Charter, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and other norms of international law,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement today. “These actions exemplified Russia’s deliberate policy of endangering the freedom of navigation and safety of commercial shipping in the Black Sea. We express our support and solidarity with Turkey, our strategic partner, and we call on the international community to take decisive action to prevent Russian Federation’s actions that impede the peaceful passage of vessels through the Black Sea.”
In a separate development, Ukraine is now accepting registrations from vessels wishing to take advantage of its unilaterally declared “temporary corridors” to its ports.
