He was called Beluga Evaluation, then BBC Hawaii, Ocean Rising, Neptune Crow and Neptun. Released from a Chinese site in 2006, this 138-meter cargo cargo now bears the name of Maia-1. On March 16 and 17, he spent the Channel, after a long journey from Asia to officially reach a Russian port in the Baltic Sea. It is not an ordinary ship: under the Russian pavilion, it is under sanctions for having, a year ago, exported from the weapons from North Korea to Russia.
“It is the first time that a ship punished for activities in North Korea has ventured into European waters”, points Joe Byrne, analyst at the British NGO Open Source Center (CSO), which has followed the boat since his departure from Russia and Exhibits this file on a dedicated site. Its only presence near the French and British coast constitutes a challenge to the sanctions regime established against North Korea, after three years of Russian offensive against Ukraine.
This Russian boat has made a stop in North Korea and thus bypassed international sanctions. He continues his way to the west of Russia.
© / Lucile Laurent / L’Express
2,000 ammunition containers in Russia
MAIA-1 delivered approximately 2,000 russia ammunition containers between autumn 2023 and early 2024, ESC estimated, from satellite images and open sources. Does he continue to do it? Only index, who left Vladivostok on January 5, the cargo cargo stopped in the port of Zhangjiagang, near Shanghai, specializing in the export of equipment for liquefied natural gas projects.
After leaving China, he made a stop by Vietnam, a stage during which he reported his destination. Then he sailed directly to the Mediterranean, passing by the Suez Canal, before staying for several days in Algiers bay, where he was able to fill up with fuel. It is the property of the Russian company MG-Flot, two boats of which have been accused of transport of missiles and shells from Iran to Russia.
Its final destination is known. It is a Russian port, located about twenty kilometers from Estonia and specializing in the export of hydrocarbons. Russia also plans to install a terminal of liquefied natural gas there. “UST-Luga is not only an important port for oil or gas, it is also a military port,” said Estonian deputy Marko Mihkelson.
“We should prohibit access to the Baltic by the straits controlled by Denmark to boats sanctioned like this, it is a necessity if we want to put pressure on Russia,” continues this former journalist, now president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament. To return to the Baltic Sea, the Maia-1 must indeed go through the Danish territorial waters. A boarding would, at least verify that its cargo is not military in nature.
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