For the second time in a week, Russia has alleged that it has found traces of explosives in the holds of ships attempting to pass through the Kerch Strait.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced in a statement on 27 July that a dry cargo ship sailing from the Turkish city of Sinop to the port of Rostov-on-Don has been denied passage through the Kerch Strait, the CFTS portal reports, citing Russian media. The alleged reason is that traces of explosives were found on board the vessel.
The vessel in question is BMO River, which flies the flag of Palau. According to the statement, traces of explosives were found in the vessel's hold and on the surface of a lifeboat.
Since the bulk carrier called at the port of Reni in June and July, the Russians categorically stated that "the vessel could have been used to deliver explosives to the territory of Ukraine."
This is the second such statement in the past few days, which indicates that a certain information campaign is being waged. For example, Russian media reported on Monday that traces of explosives were also found on a ship sailing from Turkey to Rostov-on-Don near the Kerch Strait on 22 July.
"It was established that the vessel was in the Ukrainian port of Kiliia at the end of May. The bulk carrier's entire crew of 12 Ukrainian citizens was replaced in the Turkish port of Tuzla and the name of the vessel changed in July. These circumstances may indicate that the foreign civilian vessel was possibly used to deliver explosives to the territory of Ukraine," the FSB said.
The sudden "discovery" of such vessels by the Russian special service against the backdrop of Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal, the reports that the Russians are planting mines on the routes to Ukrainian ports, and Russia’s rocket attacks on Ukrainian port terminals can only indicate that this is one of Russia’s methods for blocking freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
As reported earlier, a report prepared for Russia’s military and political leadership recently came to light. In the report, Rear Admiral Eduard Luyk of the Russian Navy detailed how Russia’s representatives at the Black Sea Grain Initiative’s Joint Coordination Center used the center to sabotage the implementation of the grain initiative.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Intelligence Directorate, the document shows that all the actions taken to disrupt the grain deal were part of a single plan that was prepared in advance. The recent targeted attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure are just another step in its implementation.
It is also worth recalling that although Russia was inspecting ships and doing so within the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, nobody is inspecting ships going to and from Russian ports. Meanwhile, an entire flotilla of vessels secretly transports Russian military cargo through the Black Sea. "This is not the first time that investigative journalists and our intelligence services have stated that there is an entire flotilla of ships transporting military equipment and military personnel from Syria to the Black Sea through the Bosporus in violation of Turkey's bans. They hide them in their holds, forge documents, and so on, and these are proven facts," said Andrii Klymenko, the head of the Monitoring Team at the Black Sea Strategic Research Institute.
