Russian ship with dangerous cargo on board illegally crosses Bosporus

The cargo ship Sparta IV may be delivering S-300 missiles from the Russian naval base in Tartus, Syria, to the port of Novorossiysk.

The Russian cargo ship Sparta-4, which is under US sanctions, has entered the Black Sea through the Bosporus. The container ship may contain military cargo from Syria. This was reported by Naval News.

It is noted that Turkey, which controls the Bosporus Strait, has closed the way for Russian warships through the straits between the Mediterranean and Black Seas after the war in Ukraine began, but a ban is not imposed on auxiliary and merchant vessels.

According to Naval News, the Sparta-4 belongs to the Russian company SK Yug, which is under US sanctions.

It is reported that after the earthquake in Turkey and Syria on February 6, the ship delivered humanitarian aid to the Syrian port of Tartus and then headed back to Russia. The vessel entered the Bosphorus on March 1, before which it was accompanied by the Russian Navy’s missile corvette Steregushchiy.

The publication writes that the ship quickly and unnoticed passed through the Bosphorus in the dark, and its draft of 6.2 meters indicates a heavy load.

The ship may likely be carrying military equipment. The Syrian city of Tartus is home to a Russian naval base.