The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) has added DP World (Dubai Port World), one of the world's largest port operators, to the list of international sponsors of the war against Ukraine because the United Arab Emirates-based company has not only not stopped doing business in the Russian Federation, but it is also strengthening its cooperation with Russia, the CFTS portal reports.
For example, according to the NAPC, DP World signed an agreement with Russia’s Rosatom state corporation for the development of the Northern Sea Route last month.
Rosatom currently controls the temporarily occupied Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant.
DP World specializes in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services, and free trade zones. It handles 70 million containers that are brought in by around 70,000 vessels annually and operates in over 69 countries on all continents.
"After the signing of the agreement with Rosatom, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that the development of the Northern Sea Route was a strategic project that would generate USD 224 billion in additional revenue into Russia’s state budget. Thus, the Russian official directly confirms that the terrorist state benefits from cooperation with DP World. Russia will use these additional funds to finance the war against Ukraine, among other things," the NAPC said in a statement.
The signing ceremony of the agreement between Russia and the Saudi company was attended by Rosatom’s CEO Alexei Likhachev and the DP World Group’s Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem. According to the information provided, the Northern Sea Route will have a length of over 5,600 kilometers from Murmansk to Vladivostok, along sea coasts and the Arctic and Pacific Oceans.
The NAPC added that the strategic cooperation between Rosatom and DP World would facilitate the transit of goods to Russia, bypassing sanctions, given that Rosatom systematically provides services to the Russian military-industrial complex by importing banned components for Russian tanks and aircraft. In addition, according to the statement, other illegal cargo and weapons could be transported via the Northern Sea Route.
DP World is also active in Ukraine. The company acquired 51% of the TIS container terminal in the Pivdennyi port in 2020.
In addition, tugs owned by DP World’s subsidiary P&O Maritime operated in four Ukrainian ports before the full-scale war. The global port operator was also interested in a concession in the Pivdennyi port, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyi called on the UAE-based company in 2021 to invest more actively in Ukrainian ports.
