Ukraine has formally accused the Russian captain of a cargo ship of helping move more than 54,000 metric tons of wheat allegedly taken from farmers in occupied areas to Syria, bringing the vessel’s role into a war-crime investigation.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced Oct. 19 that it had served the captain with a notice of suspicion while he was absent. The agency identified the ship as MATROS POZYNICH and said it carried the grain on two voyages from occupied Sevastopol to Latakia, Syria, in 2022 and January 2023. The SBU said Russian forces took the wheat from Ukrainian farmers in occupied territory.
The captain is suspected of violating Ukraine’s restrictions on entering or leaving occupied territory and its laws and customs of war, the SBU said. The notice of suspicion is an allegation, not a conviction. Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General described the case as the country’s first war-crime classification of a captain accused of transporting grain taken under occupation.
Prosecutors allege that the wheat was presented as Russian produce. They also say the captain periodically disabled the ship’s automatic identification system and sent false location reports to conceal its route. The SBU further alleged that Russia’s senior political leadership directed the shipments, a claim that has not been tested in court.
The European Union listed MATROS POZYNICH under sanctions effective Dec. 19, 2025. An EU Council regulation cited activity threatening Ukraine’s economic subsistence or food security, including the transport of stolen grain; the listing does not decide the captain’s criminal liability. The SBU said investigators are seeking to identify other people connected to the shipments. The official announcement gave no next hearing date.
