Transport Malta ‘monitoring’ Russian arms dealer’s Maltese subsidiary

Malta's transport authorities have told MaltaToday they are monitoring the activities of a Russian ship transporting arms to Syrian government forces, whose ownership falls under a Maltese subsidiary.

The container ship Professor Katsman, which has attracted international condemnation for its role in the transport of arms to Syria, is a Russian-flagged vessel but it is owned by a Maltese firm.

The firm, Rusich-12, is part of several companies registered at the address of advocates Ganado & Associates in Valletta, as subsidiaries of Russich-NW Shipholding, which is registered in Cyrus and owned by Universal Cargo Logistics (UCL) of the Netherlands, one of several businesses owned by Russian oligarch and billionaire Vladimir Lisin.

Lisin, one of Russia's senior Olympic officials with a €13 billion personal fortune according to Forbes, has been implicated in a growing scandal over the shipment of Russian weapons to Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is waging a brutal war against opposition forces and civilians.

UCL is registered in the Netherlands, while the boat is registered by a Maltese company called Rusich 12 Ltd, which is owned by a Russich-NW Shipholding.

The Professor Katsman - Source: Creative Commons

[SEE Rusich-12 annual return from MFSA and subsidiaries owned by UCL - PDFs]

A fortnight ago it transpired that the Professor Katsman had transported weapons from Russia's state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport, to Tartus, Syria's second biggest port.

The American ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has said the transportation of the armaments to Syria are not technically a violation of international law.

"But it's reprehensible that arms would continue to flow to a regime that is using such horrific and disproportionate force against its own people..." Rice said.

In comments to MaltaToday, Transport Malta said that while the Professor Katsman is registered in Russia and its operations regulated by Russia, "this notwithstanding, the Maltese authorities are closely following the matter with the registered owners."

Universal Cargo Logistics has claimed the cargo transport by the Professor Katsman was general cargo and electrical equipment.

 Since there are no United Nations sanctions currently imposed on Syria - which have been anyway vetoed by Russia - UCL has insisted there was nothing wrong in transporting the cargo.

Russian billionaire Vladimir Lisin was a welder before studying metal engineering at a university in Siberia.

The suggestion that the Professor Katsman was carrying weapons was first reported by Al Arabiya television, a Saudi-owned news channel backed by the Saudi royal family, which itself is opposed to the Assad regime.

International watchdog Human Rights First said it has been unable to "verify that this ship was carrying weapons".

"Russian weapons have been documented at the site of atrocities in Syria," Human Rights First said last week, adding: "and if Russian weapons continue to be supplied and used in the commission of crimes against humanity in Syria, it makes Rosoboronexport and the Russian authorities directly complicit in enabling these crimes."