Zafar has made at least two trips from occupied Crimea to Yemen in recent months.
Russia supplies grain, likely stolen from Ukraine, to the Houthis, who control most of Yemen. This is confirmed by the results of the investigation of Bellingcat and Lloyd’s List.
This conclusion was made based on a study of the transport routes of the Zafar vessel, which made at least two trips from the occupied Crimea to Yemen in recent months.
In October, the grain was loaded on the Zafar in the port of Sevastopol. In November, the ship arrived at the port of Al-Salif in Western Yemen. In November, the ship arrived at the port of Al-Salif in Western Yemen, after stopping at the port of Djibouti for inspection by the UN Inspection and Verification Mechanism.
Despite the check, investigators said Zafar was able to pass control, although the port of departure was occupied by Sevastopol.
The ship had previously made a similar voyage from Sevastopol and had also evaded detection. Zafar hid its presence by turning off its automated identification system.
The port of Sevastopol is under US and UK sanctions, and the terminal where the ship is docked is under EU sanctions. At the same time, there are no UN sanctions against the port of Sevastopol or Russia, allowing the ships to avoid legal consequences.
There is no information about the exact origin of the grains brought to Zafar. However, Ukrainian farmers in the occupied territories have repeatedly accused the Russian military of stealing products for further export, the investigation said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called this incident an outrage.
“Ukraine continues to make every effort to expose systematic and large-scale theft of Ukrainian grain by Russia, its illegal transportation through temporarily occupied territories and illegal activities in our closed ports,” said department.
Earlier it was reported that this year the Russians exported more than 180 thousand tons of stolen Ukrainian grain through the port of Mariupol alone.
Source: korrespondent
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