Sweden will transfer a seized Russian-linked cargo ship and its grain cargo to Ukraine after the Supreme Court on Aug. 4 declined to hear an appeal filed by owner Caffa Shipping Ltd, upholding two lower-court rulings that ordered the vessel's handover to Kyiv.
The 96-metre Caffa, part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet, was boarded by armed Swedish police off Trelleborg on March 6 as it sailed from Casablanca toward Saint Petersburg under a false Guinean flag. Ukraine had requested the seizure through a mutual legal assistance channel. Ten of the 11 crew members were Russian nationals.
Ukrainian sanctions commissioner Vladyslav Vlasiuk said the ship was carrying grain and had previously transported stolen Ukrainian grain from Russian-occupied Crimea to Syria. Swedish broadcaster TV4 reported it is the first time a court has ordered the transfer of a suspected grain-theft vessel to Kyiv.