Court lifts arrest from Russian vessel sold in Odesa region

The court lifted the arrest from the Nika Spirit vessel, which was auctioned off by the National Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) in April for UAH 6 million.

This was reported by the ARMA press service.

"The National Asset Recovery and Management Agency announces the lifting of the arrest of the Nika Spirit, which was previously transferred to the management of the ARMA within the framework of criminal proceedings," the agency said.

The reason for lifting the seizure was the completion of the sale of the vessel at an open auction. As a result of the auction, the asset, preliminarily estimated at UAH 2.4 million, was sold for UAH 6.4 million. The Ukrainian company Alfa Group 77 became the new owner of the asset.

Thus, the court found that the asset had lost its connection with the subject of the criminal proceedings and acquired a new legal status - commercial property acquired in good faith at an open auction.

According to the YouControl service, Alfa Group 77 LLC was registered in 2016 in Kremenchuk, Poltava region. The owner is Vitalii Marchenko.

On November 4, 2024, the Dniprovsky District Court of Kyiv authorized the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) to sell the Russian tanker Nika Spirit.

The Nika Spirit tanker (formerly known as Neyma) was detained on July 24, 2019, in the port of Izmail. According to the international information system Equasis, the vessel was identified as the one used to block the Kerch Strait in November 2018.

The tanker allegedly ran aground under the arch of the Kerch Bridge during the events of November 25, 2018, when the Ukrainian ships Berdiansk and Nikopol and the raid tug Yany Kapu were making a planned passage from the port of Odesa to the port of Mariupol in the Sea of Azov and were attacked by Russian warships, resulting in the capture of Ukrainian sailors.

Кирило Бойко