MOSCOW:A delegation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Friday met with the crew of Russia’s Mekhanik Pogodin tanker, which remains blocked in the Ukrainian port of Kherson since August 10, the vessel’s operating company V.F. Tanker told TASS.
“At last, a delegation of the OSCE mission was allowed to the berth where the vessel is moored and asked the crew about their health and living conditions. The OSCE inspectors turned down the captain’s request to visit the ship, because their mandate is valid only on the territory of Ukraine,” the company said.
The inspectors’ previous visit was disrupted by the SBU, OSCE has said.
According to the ship’s owner, the crew has enough food and medicines, the sailors can leave the ship if necessary and contact their relatives at any time. The tanker is ready to leave the port once permitted.
On August 10, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) blocked the Russian vessel at the port of Kherson, saying that its owner had been blacklisted by Kiev.
The vessel’s captain said the tanker was shipping a cargo of diesel fuel from Turkmenistan to Ukraine under a freightage contract in the interests of Canada’s Oil Marine Shipping and Chartering, while Unicredit Bank Austria was the cargo manager at the Kherson port.
The company pointed out in an earlier statement that “the port authorities and customs service have been notified that the vessel’s detention was groundless and illegal and could entail liability for damages,” as they were violating the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to the Arrest of Sea-going Ships.
Ukraine Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Omelyan said on August 17 that Ukraine may confiscate and sell the tanker. The so-called first deputy Ukrainian president’s envoy to Crimea, Izet Gdanov, said on August 18 that the Ukrainian authorities will keep the Mekhanik Pogodin vessel in Kherson for three years.
