Prosecutor's Office serves notice of suspicion to Russian admiral who ordered seizure of Sapphire ship

The Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office has served in absentia a notice of suspicion to the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy of violating the laws and customs of war committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.

As explained by the Prosecutor General's Office, this refers to the seizure on February 26, 2022, of the Ukrainian search and rescue vessel Sapfir, which was carrying out a humanitarian mission to evacuate the wounded and dead from the area of Zmeinyi Island.

The vessel was not armed, and the captain reported the peaceful nature of the mission via international radio communications. Russian ships forcibly stopped the Sapphire in the open sea. There were 17 crew members and four civilian mission participants on board, including a doctor and a priest. The Russian military conducted a search, confiscated cell phones and personal belongings, held the civilians in locked rooms by force, and threatened them with weapons.

After the seizure of the Sapphire vessel, the admiral personally arrived at the temporarily occupied Zmeinyi Island. There, he interrogated the captain of the ship, seeking possible cooperation with the Ukrainian military and the SBU. He was aware of the humanitarian nature of the mission, but did not cancel the illegal detention of the civilian crew.

Subsequently, the vessel and 21 civilians on board were forcibly moved to the temporarily occupied Crimea, and later to Russia. It was only in March-May 2022 that the people were released as part of the exchange. The Ukrainian rescue vessel was also returned.

Earlier, the commander of the Equator reconnaissance ship and the captain of the Shakhtar rescue and towing vessel of the Russian Black Sea Fleet also received notices of suspicion. Both are involved in the ill-treatment of the Sapphire crew.

Кирило Бойко