Sanctioned Russian vessel docks in Cape Town, SA Navy says will provide details

The residents of Simon's Town, a city of Cape Town and home to the largest base of the South African Navy, became witnesses to an unusual docking of a US-sanctioned Russian vessel named Lady R in the navy shipyard.

The residents took photographs of six containers being loaded from trucks onto the vessel on Thursday at midnight. People said cranes were seen offloading pallets and cargo crates from the ship onto the trucks.

It is the first time that the US Treasury Department-sanctioned Russian cargo ship has docked since the Ukraine war. The mystery surrounding the docking of the vessel has become a point of discussion in the fishing community, as locals continued speculating reasons behind the docking of the vessel at a military port.

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Although the reason behind the vessel's docking remains a mystery, few speculated that it can be a “ship in distress”, others claimed that it was docked for dubious purposes.

Democratic Alliance's defence spokesperson said, “Clearly something is going on,” DA defence spokesperson Kobus Marais. He added that he has sent a message to Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thandi Modise, stating that she “must explain to South Africans what a sanctioned Russian ship is doing at the Simon’s Town naval base and why there is so much secrecy surrounding it”, Daily Maverick reported.

A Russian cargo ship sanctioned by the US for carrying arms secretly loaded and unloaded unknown cargo in Simon’s Town naval dockyard in a high-security, clandestine operation on the night of Wednesday/Thursday this week. The DA is now demanding an ... https://t.co/05vNJyaZ7x

However, South Africa's naval authorities and National Defence Force maintained silence over the docking of the mysterious ship.

When quizzed, the SA Navy stated that the Navy's chief would speak on the matter on Friday in Gordon's Bay after the military officers' passing-out parade. The navy stated that it wouldn't be able to provide a definite time for the parade's conclusion. The Russian ship is a roll-on/roll-off container carrier, which is 18 years old and has a carrying gross tonnage of 7260.

The vessel sails under the Russian Federation's flag and Astrakhan has been listed as her home port. According to the locals, the vessel docked on Tuesday and since then, it has been offloaded with a crane.

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The ship is on its way to Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania. The Russian Consulate, meanwhile, refused to have any information about the ship.

"The captain (according to Russian Consular Statute) or owner of the vessel informs Russian Consulate about calls and stays in ports in case of emergency situations when they need assistance. If everything is fine, captain is not legally obliged to report to Russian Consulate officials about the presence of the ship. At this moment, we do not have information about Lady R's calling to Simon's Town on Tuesday evening," said the consulate on Thursday, News24 reported.

After Ukraine was invaded by Russia in February, sanctions were imposed by the US on Russia. South Africa has avoided using criticism for Russia's actions and abstained from voting against the war in the UN.

(With inputs from agencies)