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The infamous Russian ship, which has been sanctioned from North Korea to transport arms, is set to enter the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, the first time a ship engaged in Pyongyang’s weapons has entered the Mediterranean Sea.
According to the Open Source Centre, the Maia-1, a Russian flapping vessel currently located under direct sanctions by the US and the EU, is now fixed outside the southern entrance to the major waterway linking Asia and Europe. It’s there. The group that identified the container. The designated destination for the vessel is a port located on Russia’s Baltic Sea coast, where Moscow is building its liquefied natural gas facilities.
The vessel is one of more than 20 ships owned by MG-Flot, and is a company subject to British, EU and US sanctions. The EU said the carrier is part of the “military transport network of Russian cargo ships.” According to the OSC, it has made at least nine trips to North Korea in the five months leading up to February 2024.
“MAIA-1 is a vessel named by a panel of North Korea’s UN experts and has been approved by several governments for its involvement in shipping North Korean ammunition to Russia,” said OSC Analyst. said Joe Byrne.
The ship arrives in European territory and the potential subsequent transport through NATO members’ waters, including Denmark, is to consider how far it intends to continue supporting Ukraine and continue to move forward. In the same way, it will bring new challenges to the continent. Russia’s economy.
The voyage “is a challenge to the Western sanctions system and tests our resolve to take action,” Byrne added.
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MAIA-1 began his journey in Vladivostok, Russia’s Far East last month, before picking up cargo at a port near Shanghai. Since leaving China, the AIS transponder has been turned on and has been sailing mostly.
According to the OSC, when it was in the equipment port of Zhangjiagang between January 11th and 16th, it appeared that a large item was loaded onto the ship. The facility is linked to efforts to avoid sanctions over the supply of equipment to Russia’s liquefied natural gas projects.
Satellite images collected by the OSC showed the containers carrying objects and were then covered for a journey covered in Tarporin.
MAIA-1 submitted documents while stopping at a Vietnamese stop as UST-Luga, a Baltic port where a new LNG terminal is being built despite the impact of sanctions.
Access to Russian turbines and other gas liquefaction devices was severely hit by US sanctions imposed by the White House under former President Joe Biden. The US Treasury also struck a heavy lift cargo ship supplying these schemes.
The UST-Luga LNG project was delayed due to the withdrawal of major western partners in the wake of a complete Russian Ukraine in 2022 and US sanctions introduced in recent years.
Russia has another LNG development further north, known as Arctic LNG 2, which previously received a major factor manufactured in China.
The Suez Canal gives all vessels freedom of voyage under the 1888 Constantinople Convention, but can stop them from passing if there is a shortage of appropriate insurance. Masu. MAIA-1 is not listed as eligible for international insurance companies members.
Mapping by Stephen Bernard
