Russian cargo ship linked to Syria sinks in the Mediterranean

A Russian cargo ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria following a blast in its engine room, leaving two crew members missing, according to authorities.

The remaining 14 crew members out of a total of 16 have been rescued and are currently in Spain, Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. The ministry did not share any further details on the explosion that sank the ship or what might have caused it.

The vessel, called Ursa Major, was constructed in 2009. The ship was on its way to the Russian Far East port of Vladivostok, carrying heavy equipment.

Russian domestic outlets shared footage purportedly made on Monday by a passing vessel showing the Ursa Major heavily leaning on its starboard side. Euronews could not independently verify the footage.

The ship’s owner, Oboronlogistika — a shipping company owned by the Russian Ministry of Defence commonly tasked with transporting materiel such as missiles and tanks — claimed the vessel was delivering large port cranes and ice breaker parts.

Tracking data shows the ship departed from St Petersburg and had its next port of call listed as Vladivostok.

However, Ukraine’s military intelligence claimed on Tuesday that the Kremlin had sent the ship to the Mediterranean to bring back weapons and personnel from the Moscow-run Syrian port of Tartus following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Oboronlogistika made headlines earlier this year when Deputy Defence Minister of Russia Timur Ivanov — said to be the architect of Russia’s fleet of cargo “ghost ships” and a former CEO of one of Oboronlogistika’s subsidiaries — was suddenly arrested in April for allegedly “accepting bribes on a large scale”.

In July, Russian Defence Ministry official Magomed Khandayev — Ivanov’s direct subordinate — and 52-year-old businessman Igor Kotelnikov died within a day of each other, both while in custody. Russia’s security agency FSB claimed it wanted Kotelnikov, accused of bribing officials, to testify against Ivanov, according to media reports.

Previous reports have linked Russia’s “ghost ships,” including Ursa Major, with running Moscow’s military deliveries to al-Assad via Tartus.