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Russian human rights official slams detention of vessel in Ukraine

On August 10, the Ukrainian Security Service blocked the Russian vessel at the port of Kherson, saying that its owner had been blacklisted by Kiev

© wikipedia.org/G. Lipunov

NOVOSIBIRSK, August 17. /TASS/. Head of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov believes that the situation surrounding the detention of Russia’s Mekhanik Pogodin tanker in the Ukrainian port of Kherson is nothing but madness, as he himself told TASS

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"We haven’t received any requests in this regard yet but such actions are outrageous," he said in response to a question about the tanker. "I am not surprised because this is not the first example of madness," Fedotov added.

On August 10, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) blocked the Russian vessel at the port of Kherson, saying that its owner had been blacklisted by Kiev. The vessel’s captain said that the tanker was shipping diesel fuel from Turkmenistan to Ukraine under a freightage contract in the interests of Canada’s Oil Marine Shipping and Chartering, while Unicredit Bank Austria was the cargo manager at the Kherson port.

The vessel’s operating company V.F.Tanker said on Friday that the crew members had prevented an illegal entry attempt by the Ukrainian authorities. The company pointed out in an earlier statement that "the port authorities and customs service have been notified that the vessel’s detention was groundless and illegal and could entail liability for damages," as they were violating the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to the Arrest of Sea-going Ships.

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