Satellite images show Russian 'ghost ships' smuggling stolen Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, report says
- Satellite images have captured Russian "ghost ships" docking in a Black Sea port, report says.
- The ships are believed to be transporting stolen Ukrainian grain.
Satellite images appear to show Russian "ghost ships" suspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain at a shipping terminal in the Black Sea.
The 140 images obtained by investigative outlet Bellingcat appear to show the ships at the Avlita terminal in the port of Sevastopol in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine.
Under shipping law, vessels must have their satellite transponders turned on while at sea to show their location.
Data from transponders suggests that very few have visited Avlita in recent years. However the images analysed by Bellingcat tell a different story.
The outlet identified 179 days during the first year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 when ships were present at the terminal with their transponders turned off.
A ship detection tool using satellite radars was also used to identify vessels at the terminal.
The investigation apparently backs up reports by the BBC, The Associated Press and other news organisations showing that Russia is using the Avlita terminal to transport stolen Ukrainian grain.
According to a BBC investigation last year, the grain is stolen by the Russian military in farmland in Ukraine it has occupied, loaded into trucks, and transported to Russia or to Crimea.
In Crimea, it is mixed with Russian grain and given a fake export certificate, the report said. It is then transported on "ghost ships."
The ultimate destination of the ships is unclear, and many ports refuse to dock Crimean ships carrying grain, but some of them were detected at Syrian ports, Bellingcat reported.
The Ukrainian government in April accused Russia of stealing "several hundred thousand tonnes" of grain in the wake of last year's invasion, and Russia denied the accusation, Reuters reported.