Russian border guards detain Ukrainian tanker off Crimean coast

Russian border guards have detained the Ukrainian Smolny tanker in the Black Sea with over 1,160 tonnes of undocumented diesel fuel on its board, the Crimean border guard department of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) reported on Thursday.

The tanker was presumably the illegal buyer and seller of fuel at open sea, the FSB said.

"The inspection has showed the tanker has no captain. The crew consisting of 10 members lacked the entire service documentation and the automated identification system," the Crimean border guard department said.
"This means the ship was actually a ghost invisible for state controlling bodies," the border guards said.

The ship has been arrested and delivered to the port of Kerch.

An investigation has been launched into the ship’s activity in the Black Sea. The ship’s owner faces a penalty of over 3 million rubles ($50,000) under the Russian legislation for violating the state border regime.

According to data of the Crimean border guard service, the tanker belongs to Uvas-Trans LLC. The vessel has been staying in the Black Sea without calling at ports since 2012.

Since early 2015, the ship has violated the Russian legislation on the state border seven times. In particular, it entered the Russian territorial waters and carried out its activity there without permission from Russia’s border guard service.