The captain of a shadow vessel will stand trial for illegally exporting gas from Crimea

The case of the captain of a Russian vessel, who was detained in late 2025 at the Odessa seaport, has been referred to court. He had illegally entered occupied Crimea and transported approximately 2,000 metric tons of liquefied gas out of the region.

This was reported by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.

According to the investigation, after the Russian dry cargo ship was detained at the Odesa seaport, law enforcement officers conducted searches and analyzed the seized documents. This revealed that the captain had previously commanded a sanctioned gas tanker that had repeatedly changed its name and flag to conceal its activities.

Investigators believe that in 2024, the captain sailed the vessel into the closed Kerch maritime fishing port in occupied Crimea under the flag of an African country, bypassing Ukraine’s official maritime checkpoints.

From there, according to the prosecutor’s office, the vessel transported approximately 2,000 metric tons of liquefied gas, which was subsequently delivered to a country in the Middle East.

To conceal the illegal voyages, the captain, according to the investigation, entered false data about the vessel’s route and periodically turned off the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which tracks vessel movements.

The prosecutor’s office notes that such actions are used to circumvent sanctions and illegally export resources from the temporarily occupied territory.

The captain is charged with violating the procedure for entering and exiting the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine (Part 2 of Article 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The penalty under this article provides for up to five years of imprisonment.

Law enforcement officials announced the charges against the captain of the Russian dry cargo ship in April 2026. 

Intent also reported that the prosecutor’s office had previously charged another captain of a foreign vessel. He illegally exported more than 6,000 metric tons of Ukrainian sunflower seeds through a closed port in occupied Crimea.

To conceal the voyage, the captain turned off the AIS navigation system and entered false data about the vessel’s route. The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol announced the charges at that time.

Ірина Глухова