PNN – The Times newspaper reported in an article that a sanctioned Russian cargo ship passed through the English Channel escorted by a Russian warship, claiming that the ship was carrying weapons to be sent to the front lines of the war in Ukraine.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, from this English newspaper: As Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to bolster his military in the fight against Ukraine and transfer weapons from Syria, a sanctioned cargo ship carrying military hardware has crossed the English Channel, escorted by a warship.
The ship, which was announced as the “Baltic Leader,” has previously been sanctioned by the United States for carrying weapons from the Russian military.
Citing images published on its news website, The Times wrote: This is the third Russian ship to transport its weapons from Syria through the English Channel in the past month, and two more ships are expected to pass through the channel in the coming weeks.
The author of this article considered the Baltic Leader’s passage through the English Channel to be noteworthy because it was escorted by a warship, and wrote that its sailors were burning classified documents and manning the ship’s machine guns.
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The newspaper continued: For the past few years, sea cargo shipments of weapons have been regularly transported between Syria and Russia via ships nicknamed the “Syria Express,” bringing Moscow’s weapons from its bases in the Middle East to the front lines of the Ukrainian war.
This has become particularly acute since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, and Russia has since begun transferring weapons from its bases across Syria. Time claims that satellite images taken of the Syrian port of Tartus on February 1 show the Baltic Leader loading weapons from the base.
The author of this article, while acknowledging that it is not clear exactly what is being loaded onto the ships, claims: Satellite images clearly show heavy artillery guns at the docks being prepared for loading.
Joseph Byrne, a senior analyst at the UK-based non-governmental organization Open Source Center, told The Times in this regard: According to high-resolution satellite images taken in early February, the Baltic Leader is being loaded at the Syrian port of Tartus.
He added: Although it is not clear exactly what cargo the ship is loading, Tartus is a port where Russia stores its military equipment and is probably currently transferring it.
The Times then noted that, citing Ukraine’s history of sinking Russian ships, Moscow is trying to protect its ships by sending arms shipments from Syria over longer routes.
The newspaper also noted that, citing the sanctions imposed on Russian ships, it is not an easy task to prevent ships from passing through international channels, because according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, ships have the right to pass through the territorial waters of another country.