It's been almost 6 months since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In such a situation, there has been a shortage of weapons with Russia. Some intelligence reports claim that Russia is now buying weapons from other countries to continue its attack on Ukraine. Russia, one of the most powerful countries in the world, has turned to other countries. According to the report, a merchant ship was seen traveling from Syria to Russia late last month.
The name of this ship is being told as Sparta II. The ship has been banned by the US. It passed through the Bosphorus Strait of Turkey while going from Syria to Russia. European intelligence officials monitoring Sparta II say it had moved military vehicles to Russia to continue President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. The ship went to Russia's Novorossiysk port in the Black Sea via Syria.
The US and Western countries have imposed tough sanctions on Russia since the Ukraine war. Due to these sanctions, Russia is not able to easily meet the supply of arms. However, in the meantime, Ukraine has received weapons worth billions of dollars from America and Europe for its defense. Russia, on the other hand, has had to rely on its resources to support its troops stationed on the front lines. According to US estimates, thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed or injured and thousands of armored vehicles destroyed.
An official familiar with the matter, agreeing to European intelligence reports, said the US government believes Russia is using merchant ships to transport military cargo to the Black Sea.
According to satellite photos from July 17 to 25 seen by intelligence officials and Bloomberg, Sparta II certainly brought military vehicles from the Syrian port of Tartus. Let us tell you that the port of Tartus is under the control of Russia. He said it was not clear what type of vehicles were on the ship. But the ship was seen in Syria with vehicles loaded. It had traveled through Syria to Russia via Turkey. Reports said there were at least 11 vehicles in it that were offloaded to Novorossiysk, Russia.
The company to which this ship belongs was banned by the US in May. Maritime tracking data showed that the ship is controlled by none other than the Russian Defense Ministry. However, the surprising thing in this is that the ship passed through Turkey, which is itself a NATO member country.
Turkey cited the Montreux Convention to close its strait to warships shortly after Putin's attack on February 24. The Montreux Convention is an international treaty governing Turkey's Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits. However, commercial ships can pass through it. According to people familiar with the matter, Russia had used cargo ships from the company, Oboronologista OOO, on the same route on other occasions this year as well. It has also transported military cargo from Russia to Syria several times in the past.
A US State Department spokesperson has sent questions to the Turkish government on the matter. A Turkish official familiar with the issue said a merchant ship would only be investigated if there was any secret information or suspicion of wrongdoing. A White House spokesman declined to comment on whether the US had spoken with Turkish officials about the situation. The Kremlin and Oboronologista did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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