US lifts sanctions on occupied territory callers while ending Syria restrictions
SANCTIONS on three serial Crimea callers have been lifted by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control as part of the cessation of sanctions against Syria.
Bulk carrier Monte Bianco (IMO: 9385233) and general cargoships Monte Rosa(IMO: 9274343) and San Damian(IMO: 9274331) were initially designated by Ofac in 2015 for links to the Syrian government.
In December, the vessels were targeted by the EU for their role in the transport of stolen Ukrainian grain.
Analysis of Lloyd’s List Intelligence vessel-tracking data shows the ships regularly sailing into the Black Sea and disabling their Automatic Identification System data.
This is a common behaviour among the fleet of ships that call to Russia-occupied territories to hide this activity.
Monte Rosa has not transmitted AIS data since November 2024. It was off Tripoli, Lebanon, at the time.
San Damian, which falsely flies the flag of Eswatini, was last captured with AIS in December 2024 in the east Mediterranean.
Monte Bianco, previously flagged with Gambia but now signalling that it has reflagged with Timor-Leste via its AIS transmissions, is currently anchored off Istanbul. It is signalling the Russian port of Kavkaz as its destination.
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