The Matros-Shevchenko: Crew Feedback and Vessel Data

On Jan 7, 2026, the 'Matros Shevchenko' belonging to the Russian ghost fleet, loaded with radioactive cargo, has passed the Canary Islands. The ship regularly transports raw uranium (uranium ore) from Togo to Russia, which was previously transported from Niger to Togo. The Sahelian nation possesses one of the world's largest natural uranium deposits. Russia is deliberately operating a shadow fleet in this area and is circumventing EU sanctions.

The 'Mikhail Nenashev' is one of about 10 ships engaged in grain transport from occupied territories in Ukraine, as Russian ships are increasingly loading grain from Crimea and other occupied areas in Ukraine. Most grain, coming from Mariupol, Berdiansk and Azov in southeastern Ukraine, goes to Iran. The grain from Ukraine is subject to the sanctions that Western countries have declared, Russian grain is not. In some cases the grain is transported directly to Iran, in other cases it is loaded into smaller ships and loaded onto larger bulk carriers in the Kerch Strait between Crimea, Ukraine, and Russia via ship-to-ship transshipment. That shows how the effect of the sanctions can be reversed. While the Russians regularly bomb terminals in Izmail and Neri, from which Ukrainian grain is exported, Ukrainian grain is smuggled from Sevastopol. The 'Mikhail Nenashev' was detected while en route to the Russian port of Kavkaz. The AIS signal disappeared at an anchorage south of Crimea. A few days later, a satellite photo showed a completely identical ship loading at the Avlita terminal in Odesa. The vessel was then filmed as it transited the Bosphorus and was eventually photographed again when it lay with its hatches open in the port of Bandar Khomeni. In other cases, the AIS signal disappeared north of Cyprus and reappeared several weeks later, while the ship was sailing north in the Black Sea. On the whole 10 bulk carriers are regularly involved in these types of shipments. In addition to the 'Mikhail Nenashev', these included the 'Matros Shevchenko', 'Matros Koshka' and 'Matros Pozynich', currently sailing to Syria and Iran. Grain was also supplied to Turkey in the first year of the Putin war. And while the transports initially all went via Sevastopol, it has been shown that ships now also depart from the ports of Feodosia, Mariupol, Berdjansk and Kerch. Syrian ships have also been regularly spotted at grain terminals in Sevastopol.

The 61-year old pilot of the 'Maria GS' fell into the water in Novorossyisk while disembarking from the ship onto a pilot boat on March 14, 2021, at 9.40 p.m. He was quickly recovered, but attempts to resuscitate him failed. The vessel left Novorossiysk after the accident, bound for Tobrug with an ETA as of March 18.

Japanese Owners have sold their handysize "Prinsesa Sirena" 28/2011 I-S with DD 11/2018 to Greek buyers at levels USD 9.8 mill.