Russian ship carrying stolen grain changes destination from Egypt to Syria

The Russian bulk carrier Mikhail Nenashev, which was transporting stolen Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories to Egypt, has changed course and is heading to the Syrian port of Tartus.

This was reported by a journalist with the SeaKrime investigative project of the Myrotvorets Center Kateryna Yaresko.

According to GUR, this ship is under sanctions from Ukraine, the European Union and Switzerland for transporting stolen grain. The day before, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Heorhii Tykhyi said that one of the ships with stolen grain is currently heading to Egypt.

This is despite the fact that earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky, following a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, stated that Egypt had pledged to stop importing stolen Ukrainian grain.

Jaresko writes that the bulk carrier is currently transporting 27 400 tons of wheat, loaded at the “Avlita” grain terminal in occupied Sevastopol on April 22-25. This grain is from the occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and Crimea.

Syria is currently massively importing stolen Ukrainian grain — purchases are carried out by a state company, even after the overthrow of the Russian-allied regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Also, the “Sparta” ship of the “Oboronlogistika” company, which supplies the Russian military contingent, is currently heading to Tartus.

This was preceded by a diplomatic conflict between Ukraine and Israel.

On April 26, the Israeli media outlet Haaretz reported that the “Panormitis” vessel, carrying grain allegedly stolen from the occupied territories of Ukraine, had arrived in the bay of the Israeli city of Haifa and was awaiting permission to enter the port. In total, according to Haaretz, four vessels have unloaded stolen Ukrainian grain in Haifa since the beginning of 2026.

Because of this, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha also stressed that the Foreign Ministry had already appealed to Israel on April 15 regarding a similar ship that had delivered grain to Haifa, but there was no sufficient response to the incident. At that time, Israel informed Ukraine that it was too late to detain the Russian ship, as it had already left the port of Haifa.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded to Sybihaʼs post in X, saying that "diplomatic relations are not conducted on Twitter". He also claimed that Sybiha "did not file a request for legal assistance before turning to the media and social media".

On April 28, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summoned Israeli Ambassador Michael Brodsky and handed him a note of protest over the continued arrival of grain to Israel, which Russia exports from the occupied territories of Ukraine. Already on April 29, Ukraine sent the Israeli side a package of documents for the arrest of the vessel.

In this regard, the EU is considering the option of imposing sanctions against Israel for purchasing grain, and Ukraine is ready to adopt similar decisions.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said that from January to April 2026, 25 ships of the Russian shadow grain fleet illegally left ports in the occupied territories of Ukraine for other countries almost 50 times.

Most of the trips were related to the illegal export of grain — the Russians exported more than 850 000 tons of products. More than 50% of the grain was exported from Sevastopol, another 13% — from Mariupol and Berdyansk.

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