According to Naval News, Russia may have “smuggled” military logistic support to its Black Sea fleet. The publication shared a photo from Yörük Işık, a well-known observer and photographer on military ships that cross the Bosporus Strait.
Turkiye has closed the Bosporus to warships since Russia partly invaded Ukraine with its rights due to the Montreux Convention. Russia answered that it would not confront the Convention and Turkiye’s decision.
According to the Convention, Russia’s only warships with homeport in the Black Sea may cross the Straits. It is not a coincidence that such a decision would create a deficit in logistic support.
According to an Independent OSINT Defence Analyst who also contributes to the U.S. Naval Institute website, H I Sutton, “a nondescript Russian cargo ship slipped through the Bosporus in a Turkey. The ship, Sparta II, is suspected to have been carrying sophisticated weapons towards Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
Observer Yörük Işık also wrote on his social media account that the ship belonged to the Russian Defence Ministry, but its crew was civilian. He added that the ship was carrying “military cargo” to Novorossiysk.
Novorossiysk is a major Russian naval base close to the Kerch Bridge. Sutton believes the ship has sailed from Tartus in Syria, where S-300 components were loaded on the vessel. The boat is pulled into Novorossiysk on August 27.
The ship has specifically been added to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanction list.
