260 foreign merchant vessels have entered Crimean ports since the peninsula's annexation
From 18 March 2014 to 15 August 2016, 260 merchant vessels flying the flags of 32 countries entered ports of the occupied Crimea - Yevpatoria, Sevastopol, Yalta, Feodosia, and Kerch – violating bans and sanctions, as demonstrated by the monitoring of information portal BSNews, which uses AIS (automatic identification system) vessel tracking systems.
Vessels which provide passenger and cargo services in and out of ports on the Crimean peninsula and also special vessels taking part in the implementation of major infrastructure projects by the occupation authorities (dredger vessels, cable laying vessels, pipe-laying ships) are being monitored.
According to the information portal, vessels under flags of countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Bulgaria, Cambodia, the Cayman Islands, China, the Comoro Islands, DR Congo, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, South Korea, Liberia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Moldova, Mongolia, Palau, Panama, Portugal, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Togo, Albania, Turkey, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu entered the ports of the occupied Crimea.
On 30 April 2014 Ukraine officially closed the Crimean ports of Sevastopol, Yevpatoria, Yalta, Feodosia and Kerch to international shipping. Moreover, Article 332-1, “Violation of entering the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and the departure from it,” was added to the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Under this legislation, the crew on board arriving vessels to the Crimea exposes itself to administrative and criminal liability for illegal border crossing as well as a violation of entering the temporarily occupied territory.
One year after they were removed from the list of Ukrainian sea ports, they were open to foreign vessel entry.
Despite the prohibition, most vessels ignore Ukraine’s decision and still enter the Crimean port.