A Ukrainian association denounces the arrival of the Russian frigate 'Shtandart' to the port of Vigo

@ElentirENG ES 7·22·2024 · 19:31 0

Since April 16, 2022, European Union ports have banned access to ships sailing under the Russian flag.

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This prohibition was established by the Decision (CFSP) 2024/1744 of the European Council, which establishes the following:

"It is prohibited to grant access, after April 16, 2022, to ports and, after July 29, 2022, to locks located in the territory of the Union, to any ship registered under flag of Russia, and for said vessels to access ports and locks, with the exception of access to locks to leave the territory of the Union."

This prohibition also applies to Russian ships that have changed flag after that date, unless they were declared abandoned or have been subject to forced sale by the authorities of a member state of the EU.

The Galician Association of Assistance to Ukraine (AGA Ucraina) has sent a complaint to the Vigo Maritime Captaincy, the text of which has been sent to me, in which it states that "the Russian flag ship “Shtandart” en route from French Brittany intends to dock in the port of that city on the 24th to participate in the “Iacobus Maris Route” festival organized by the “Traslatio Foundation”." The website of this Foundation states that the frigate "Shtandart" has the flag of the Cook Islands.

From AGA Ucraina they explain this change of flag as follows: "Of particular relevance is the information according to which The Shandart is now registered under the flag of the Cook Islands to avoid sanctions, but it also contravenes the established prohibition in EU regulations." A ban that includes replicas of historical vessels, as is the case of that ship, which is a replica of a Russian three-masted frigate from 1703. AGA Ucraina adds:

"The “Shtandart” is a ship originally and notoriously registered, until the fraudulent registration in the Cook Islands, under the Russian flag [2], pproperty of the company “Shtandart Project”, based in Saint Petersburg [3]. In addition, it has close ties with the Kremlin regime, having participated in missions of the Russian Geographical Society [4], chaired by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, financed by Vladimir Putin, and with headquarters in Sevastopol, the most populated city in Crimea, occupied by Russia since 2014 [5]."

The arrival of the Russian frigate to Vigo is scheduled for July 24. After this first visit, it will set sail from Vigo on July 29 and return to this port on August 3, remaining in Vigo until August 15th. A few days ago, and in compliance with the aforementioned European sanctions against Russia, the French Navy prevented the arrival of that frigate Russian to the port of Brest, in Brittany. AGA Ucraina points out that the captain of the Russian ship "then anchored the Shtandart in front of the port of Bénodet. From there, he launched his crew to agitate and manipulate public opinionand the media during the Brest Maritime Festival."

AGA Ucraina remembers "the current context of war in the heart of Europe. The Russian army continues to attack Ukraine, causing desolation and civilian deaths daily. On July 8, a Russian missile attacked the Children's Hospital Ohmadyt in Kyiv where children with serious illnesses who were receiving treatment died."

For this reason, the Ukrainian association has requested in writing to the Maritime Captaincy of Vigo to "prohibit the entry, docking and stopover of the ship, “Shtandart” in the port of this city and any other of the Spanish coast, carrying out the necessary communications and actions by the competent authority, extending them to the Maritime Districts and the rest of the Captaincies of the Spanish coast, in case the ship attempts other stops on the peninsular coast, with everything else appropriate."

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Photo: Bruno Girin. The frigate "Shtandart" in 2007, when it was still sailing under the Russian flag. A pavilion that changed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.