Russian invaders have loaded a batch of sunflower seeds stolen in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region onto the GAM EXPRESS vessel in occupied Feodosia. It has already been delivered to the port of Samsun (Turkey). This was reported by investigative journalists from the SeaKrime project, who traced the entire route of the bulk carrier.
Russia exports large quantities of stolen Ukrainian sunflower abroad
According to the investigators, the GAM EXPRESS returned to the occupied Crimea after a 4-year break.
It was spotted on 18 December 2023 in one of the photos published online.
This particular vessel made illegal calls to the occupied Crimea in 2017-2019.
It is in the database of violators of the Monitoring Group of the Black Sea Institute for Strategic Studies and the BlackSeaNews editorial office.
GAM EXPRESS switched off AIS on 12.12.2023 15:28 UTC (according to the MarineTraffic platform), entered occupied Feodosia between 12 and 18 December 2023. It left the port of Feodosia on the evening of 10 January or on the night of 10/11 January 2024, the vessel was loaded.
Romanian company helps Russia to transport stolen Ukrainian agricultural products
The Equasis database contains information on the management of the offending vessel, the GAM EXPRESS.
According to investigative journalists, it is registered to MGA SHIPPING CO, a company registered in Romania.
On 10 January 2024, a phytosanitary certificate No. 792236306100124002 was issued for a consignment of sunflower seeds on the GAM EXPRESS vessel.
The document was signed by Olga Glazkritskaya (Stepanenko), a responsible official of the Feodosia customs post. The volume of the consignment of sunflower seeds on the GAM EXPRESS vessel is 2850.95 tonnes. According to the document, the consignment of sunflower seeds was cleared for Turkey, port of Samsun.
It is noted that the documents were signed by the founder of Agrogroup, Dmytro Cherkesov, and by the director of the Turkish company, a citizen of Ukraine, Leonid Pashkovsky, on behalf of the seller.
SeaKrime journalists also have other evidence of the origin of the sunflower seed shipment to GAM EXPRESS from the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region, but they cannot be published due to the need to protect sources.
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