A Swedish court has seized the vessel Caffa; this is the first concrete result of a request by the Ukrainian side regarding a ship that was used to illegally export Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied territories, according to the Ukrainian president's adviser on sanctions policy Vladyslav Vlasiuk.
"This is a sanctioned dry cargo ship that was previously detained and has now been fully arrested at Ukraine's request. According to the investigation, the vessel systematically violated the rules for entering ports in the temporarily occupied territories and was used to export Ukrainian agricultural products," Vlasiuk told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
According to him, schemes of false registration were used to conceal the ship's routes; in particular, it was listed in international databases as "Guinea False."
"The Swedish court agreed with the prosecution's arguments and upheld the legality of the arrest, noting that based on the case materials, the vessel could have been involved in committing a crime being investigated as a war crime-namely, entering the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine with the intent to harm the state's interests, as well as leaving it (Article 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)," Vlasiuk said.
He added that the court upheld the Ukrainian side's position and opened the door for further decisions within the framework of Ukrainian criminal proceedings.
"If the Ukrainian court issues a corresponding decision, this could serve as grounds for the final confiscation of the vessel and its transfer to Ukraine. That is precisely why this case is unprecedented," the presidential adviser said.
He added that this first successful outcome is the result of joint efforts by the State Security Service, the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the President's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Prosecutor General's Office. Vlasiuk also thanked the Swedish competent authorities and the court for their professional work and willingness to cooperate effectively with Ukraine.
"We hope that other states will adopt this approach. It is important that Ukrainian requests regarding Russian vessels involved in transporting stolen goods from the occupied territories or circumventing restrictions increasingly result in concrete legal decisions," he said.
