Russian Cargo Ship Under U.S. And EU Sanctions Sinks In Mediterranean Sea

The dry cargo vessel Ursa Major (file photo)

A Russian cargo ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea, leaving two members of its crew missing, Russian and Spanish authorities said on December 24.

Fourteen members of the crew were rescued from a lifeboat and taken to Spain, the country’s maritime rescue agency said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the ship began sinking after an explosion in the engine room, but Spanish authorities did not confirm that an explosion had occurred.

The vessel is owned by a subsidiary of Oboronlogistika, a shipping and logistics company established under the Russian Defense Ministry that has been designated for sanctions by the United States and the European Union for its ties to Russia's military.

Spanish authorities said they received an alert around 1 p.m. local time on December 23 when the vessel, the Ursa Major, was roughly 100 kilometers from the coast of southeastern Spain. A ship nearby reported poor weather conditions and said the Ursa Major was listing.

Authorities said a Russian warship arrived later to oversee rescue operations and that the 142-meter-long vessel sank around midnight. On board the vessel were empty containers and two cranes, Spanish authorities said.

The Russian Embassy in Spain told state news agency RIA Novosti that it was investigating and that it was in contact with local authorities.

The Ursa Major left St. Petersburg on December 11 and its final destination was Vladivostok, where it was scheduled to arrive on January 22, according to open-source data.

Some news outlets, including Mediazone, cited open-source information in reporting that the sunken dry cargo ship was actually heading to Syria, where the Kremlin-loyal regime of Bashar al-Assad was overthrown earlier this month, to help evacuate a Russian military base.

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Tracking data indicate that Russia also sent the dry cargo ship Sparta and three large landing ships to the Mediterranean amid reports that Russia was evacuating military personnel and equipment in the wake of the fall of the Assad regime.

But an open-source analyst cited by RFE/RL studied the data on the cargo that was on board the Ursa Major and concluded that it was indeed heading to Vladivostok.

A photo and video show that there were two port cranes on board the sunken ship as well as 45-ton hatch covers for the construction of nuclear icebreakers. According to analyst Alexander Oliver, the loss of the cargo will be a big blow to the port of Vladivostok and the icebreaker construction program.

Oboronlogistika vessels have been repeatedly used to supply Russian military bases in Syria. The United States in May 2022 imposed sanctions against Oboronlogistika and several other Russian companies involved in maritime transportation for the Russian Defense Ministry.

With reporting by Reuters and AP