Chinese vessel docks in Russian-occupied Crimea despite sanctions, FT reports
The Chinese Heng Yang 9 cargo ship has repeatedly docked at the port of Russian-occupied Sevastopol in Crimea, which has been under Western sanctions since 2014, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Sept. 23, citing data from the ship's transponder and satellite imagery.
The vessel has moored in Sevastopol at least three times in recent months, the newspaper reported, citing Ukrainian authorities.
This unprecedented event underscores the strengthening ties between Moscow and Beijing as they seek to counter Western influence on the global stage.
The Panama-flagged Heng Yang 9 ship is owned by the Chinese company Guangxi Changhai Shipping Company. According to FT, the vessel left Istanbul on Sept. 2 and was near the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk on Sept. 6.
The crew then reported it was heading to Port Kavkaz just east of Crimea, but satellite images from the European Space Agency dated Sept. 9 and 11 showed it never arrived there. Instead, the ship was spotted in occupied Sevastopol on Sept. 14, the FT reported.
During its September voyage, the Heng Yang 9 repeatedly manipulated its transponder data, transmitting false coordinates to conceal its stop at the Crimean port, according to the newspaper.
Ukraine’s Presidential Office told the FT that the Heng Yang 9 was also in Sevastopol from June 19 to 22, and returned again in August. After that, the ship reportedly traveled to Turkey and then to Egypt.
Ukrainian officials think Russia is using the railway to move goods from the partially occupied Donetsk and Kherson oblasts, known for industry and agriculture, to ports it now controls for export.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the Ukrainian president’s commissioner for sanctions, told the FT that Ukraine's Embassy in Beijing filed a protest with China’s Foreign Ministry over the vessel’s stop in Sevastopol in June.
According to Vlasiuk, China’s Foreign Ministry responded by saying it advises its citizens and companies to avoid contact with the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Previously, Vlasiuk said that China has become the leading supplier of dual-use components used in Russian weapons production, enabling Moscow to bypass Western sanctions.
China has publicly declared support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and a peaceful resolution of the war, yet it has avoided condemning Russia’s full-scale invasion and maintains a close political and economic alliance with Moscow.
