May 16, 2023
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On Tuesday, January 17, Bangladesh sent away a Russian ship carrying supplies for their Rooppur nuclear power plant, an incident which has left Russia dissatisfied. The move was made because of the US embargo on the Ursa Major ship.
According to international laws, a country that allows embargoed vessels to dock at ports also faces embargo charges. The ship was slated to dock on Dec 24.
However, the US government alerted Bangladesh on Dec 22 about its embargo status, which was relayed to the Russian Ambassador Alexander Mantitsky by Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry’s Maritime Affairs Secretary Khorshed Alam.
The Russian Embassy in Dhaka has termed the incident unacceptable, although they were informed about Bangladesh’s decision of not allowing the ship into the country. They have further reiterated their stand by informing Moscow that they aren’t changing their decision.
The situation has left Dhaka embarrassed as they expected Russia to honour the restriction and didn’t believe they would send an embargoed ship to deliver the consignment.
Earlier in October, Russia asked for Dhaka’s help to deliver goods to Mongla port using a Sparta-3 cargo ship. However, that ship was the embargoed Ursa Major ship that was renamed.
According to international maritime laws, a ship is known by its registered name; in this case, the ship number wasn’t changed, making it an embargoed ship.
In response to this incident, the Shipping Ministry of Bangladesh has been given a list of banned ships by the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
References: UNI India, India Blooms
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