Occupiers take out stolen metal in Mariupol by Russian ships/Collage of Channel 24
Russian occupiers began to export Ukrainian metal from the port of Mariupol with their ships. The stolen goods are transported to Rostov-on-Don.
At the same time, the Russian Mass Media report that the cargo is allegedly taken out “by agreement”, concluded even before the start of a full-scale invasion, which in Russia continues to be called a “special operation.” The Metinvest company, which owns this metal, refuted the information of propagandists and stressed that they did not give any orders to export products to the aggressor country.
Occupiers take out the metal stolen in Mariupol with their ships
Schemes journalists received a satellite image from Planet Labs, which shows that the ship “RM-3” stopped at one of the berths on May 28 port of Mariupol where metal is usually loaded.
Investigators were able to establish that “RM-3” belongs to Russian company “Reka-More” with a registered office in Rostov-on-Don. The enterprise is owned by businessman Gennady Arustamov, who also owns four other companies related to river and sea transportation of goods:
- “BOF-RM”;
- “Wells”;
- “RM-Broker”;
- SK “Reka-More”.
According to data from Marine Traffic, the Russian ship left the port of Rostov-on-Don on May 26, and on May 27, near the city of Taganrog, turned off its radar. On the morning of May 28, the “RM-3” moored at the port of Mariupol, where the loading of Ukrainian metal began.
Statements of the Russians and their refutation by the Ukrainian side
One of the Russian state media reported that only metal is loaded onto the ship, which will be sent to Rostov-on-Don allegedly “under the contract”, which was allegedly concluded before February 24, 2022.
However, in a commentary to Schemes, the director of the Mariupol Trade Port state enterprise, Igor Barsky, denied these statements of the propagandists and added that the owner of the metal stolen by the Russians is the Metinvest company, owned by Rinat Akhmetov.
We have already seen that this ship is loaded with the products of the Mariupol Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, namely rolls of metal and rolled metal,” Barsky clarified.
Metinvest, in turn, noted that the company did not sign any contracts for loading products onto a Russian vessel and did not give any such instructions.
By the way, Akhmetov’s company , which owns most of the products in the Mariupol port temporarily occupied by the Russians, has previously stated that the Russians can start exporting metal to Russian cities, in particular Taganrog and Rostov-on-Don, as well as to the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea .
According to Metinvest, Russia may subsequently start selling stolen Ukrainian products to African and Asian countries that do not support the imposition of sanctions restrictions against the aggressor country.
< p> Another Kremlin propaganda news agency reported that as of the morning of May 30, the loading of the vessel “RM-3” in the port of Mariupol was completed. It is noted that Russia plans to send another ship, which will leave for the port city destroyed by the invaders approximately on June 2-3.
