Unlock Digent Editor FREE
Roula Khalaf, editor of FT, chooses her favorite stories this weekly newsletter.
The notorious Russian ship as part of the sanction for transporting weapons from North Korea is about to enter the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, the first time the vessel involved in the weapons for Pyongyang would enter European waters.
Maia-1, Russian-Slaba and garrison ship, which was included in sanctions directly by the US and the EU, is currently anchored outside the southern entrance to the key waterway that connects Asia and Europe, according to Open Source CenterA research group that identified a vessel. The goal of the vessel is a port on the Baltic coast of Russia, where Moscow builds a liquefied device for natural gas.
The ship is one of the more than 20 vessels owned by MG-Flot, which was among the other United Kingdom, the EU and the US. The EU said in its list of sanctions that the carrier was part of the “military transport network of Russian freight vessels”. According to the OSC, it did at least nine trips to North Korea in five months until February 2024.
“Maia-1 is a vessel that has been appointed a panel of UN experts in North Korea and several governments sanctioned for its involvement in the transport of North Korean ammunition to Russia,” said Joe Byrne, head analyst OSC.
The arrival of this ship on the European territory – and its later possible transit on the waters of NATO members, including Denmark – would be a new challenge for the continent, as well as its leaders, as far as they are willing to go to support Ukraine and disrupt the Russian economy.
Voyage is “a challenge for a system of Western sanctions and tests their determination to act,” added Byrne.
Maia-1 launched its journey in Vladivostok in the Russian East last month before it picked up the cargo in the port near Shanghai. Since he left China, she has largely sailed with the AIS transponder turned on.
The OSC said that large items seemed to have been loaded on a ship in the port of ZhangjiaGang between 11 and 15 January. The facility was associated with the effort to avoid sanctions on the supply of equipment by a Russian liquefied natural gas project.
The satellite images collected by the OSC showed that the vessel was loaded with objects that were then covered with tarpaulins on the road.
Maia-1 filed documents during the Vietnam stop and provided its final goal as Ust-Luga, the Baltic Sea port where the new LNG terminal is being built despite the effect of sanctions.
The Russian approach to turbines and other gas liquefies was heavily affected by US sanctions stored by the White House under previous President Joe Biden. The US Treasury also hit the lift the cargo ships that supplied these schemes.
The Ust-Luga LNG project was postponed by downloading key Western partners as a result of Russia's complete invasion in Ukraine in 2022 and US sanctions introduced in recent years.
Russia has further development of LNG further north called Arctic LNG 2, which previously received large components made in China.
Suez Canal provides freedom of navigation to all vessels on the basis of a context contract of 1888, although the vessels can be stopped in transport if they lack appropriate insurance – a significant obstacle for vessels within sanctions. Maia-1 is not mentioned as on any members of the international group of insurance companies.
Cartography Steven Bernard
