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Tass News

16 Jan 2024

Another Ship Hit in the Red Sea

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Disruptions to Red Sea shipping caused by Houthi attacks will push up prices of consumer goods, an executive from port and freight operator DP World said on Tuesday as a missile struck another vessel in the region.The Iran-allied Houthi militia has threatened to expand its attacks to include U.S. ships in response to American and British strikes on its sites in Yemen.Attacks by the Houthis on ships in the region since November have impacted companies and alarmed major powers - an escalation of Israel's more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

16 Jan 2024

Sovcomflot Considering Alternative Shipping Routes in Case of Red Sea Escalation

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Russia's leading tanker group Sovcomflot is considering alternative shipping routes in case of further escalation of the crisis in the Red Sea, the TASS news agency reported on Tuesday.The United States and Britain launched a series of strikes on Yemen last week aimed at the Iran-backed Houthi militia, whose attacks on international shipping have disrupted one of the world's most important trade routes since December.According to British maritime security firm Ambrey, last week…

05 Oct 2023

How Serious is Russia's Fuel Export Ban and Who Will be Hit?

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Russia said on Sept. 21 that it had temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to all but four ex-Soviet states in response to domestic shortages, a move that will disrupt global trade that has already had to adjust to Western sanctions on Russian fuel exports.Russia eased some of the restrictions on Sept. 25, saying it would allow the export of bunkering fuel for some vessels and diesel with high sulphur content. The government has yet to give a timeline for any further easing…

14 Jul 2023

UN Scrambles to Save Black Sea Grain Deal Ahead of Monday Deadline

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The European Commission is helping the United Nations and Turkey try to extend a deal allowing the Black Sea export of Ukraine grain and is open to "explore all solutions," a European Union spokesperson said on Thursday, ahead of the deal's possible expiration on Monday.The U.N. and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help alleviate a global food crisis worsened by Moscow's invasion and blockade of Ukrainian ports. Ukraine and…

12 Jun 2023

UN Chief Concerned Russia Will Quit Black Sea Grain Deal in July

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday he is concerned that Russia will on July 17 quit a deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilizers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.Moscow has been threatening to walk away from the deal known as the Black Sea grain initiative - brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July last year - if obstacles to its own grain and fertilizer shipments are not removed."I am concerned and we are working…

01 Mar 2023

China-flagged Cargo Ship Sinks Off Russia's Sakhalin Island

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A China-flagged cargo ship sank in the Strait of Tartary off the coast of Russia's Sakhalin island, the press service of Russia's Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport told TASS on Wednesday, adding there were no casualties."The crew of 21 citizens of the People's Republic of China got onto the ice and was then taken on board of an approaching ship," TASS cited the press service."Everyone is well, there were no casualties."(Reuters - Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Tom Hogue)

18 Jan 2023

Russia's Newest Nuclear Submarine Heads to the Arctic

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Russian navy’s newest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine Generalissimo Suvorov is on its way to a temporary base for the Northern Fleet in the Arctic, the TASS news agency reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified defence source.“Recently, the submarine cruiser Generalissimo Suvorov has started moving from Severodvinsk, where it was located at the Sevmash shipyard, to a temporary base for the Northern Fleet,” the state agency cited its source as saying.The strategic submarine was officially included into the Russian navy at the end of 2022 by President Vladimir Putin.It is set to ev

29 Dec 2022

Russia and China Hold Naval Drills, Practice Submarine Capture

(Photo: Russian Defense Ministry)

Russia and China have completed naval drills in the East China Sea, after a week of joint exercises which included practicing how to capture an enemy submarine with depth charges and firing artillery at a warship, Russia's defense ministry said.The Dec.

27 Dec 2022

Head of Major Russian Shipyard Dies Suddenly, No Cause Given

(Photo: Admiralty Shipyards)

A major Russian shipyard that specializes in building non-nuclear submarines said its general director had died suddenly on Saturday after 11 years in the job, but gave no details.Admiralty Shipyards, based in the western port of St Petersburg, announced the death of Alexander Buzakov in a statement. He had been in the job since August 2012.His main achievement, it said, had been preserving and strengthening the shipyard's order books for modern non-nuclear submarines, surface…

05 Dec 2022

Russia Says It Won't Accept Oil Price Cap

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Russia "will not accept" a price cap on its oil and is analyzing how to respond, the Kremlin said in comments reported on Saturday, in response to a deal by Western powers aimed at limiting a key source of funding for its war in Ukraine.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had made preparations for Friday's price cap announcement by the Group of Seven nations, the European Union and Australia, the Russian state news agency TASS reported."We will not accept this cap," RIA news agency quoted him as saying.

05 Aug 2022

Ukraine Seeks to Extend Shipping Safe Passage Deal Beyond Grain

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Three grain ships left Ukrainian ports on Friday while the first inbound cargo vessel since Russia's invasion was due in Ukraine to load, as Kyiv called for the safe passage deal to be extended to other cargoes such as metals.The July 22 deal marked a rare diplomatic breakthrough as war rages in eastern Ukraine, with Kyiv trying to rebuild its shattered economy after more than five months of conflict."We expect that the security guarantees of our partners from the U.N. and Turkey will continue to work…

25 Jul 2022

Russian Missiles Hit Ukraine Port

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Russian missiles hit Ukraine's southern port of Odesa on Saturday, the Ukrainian military said, threatening a deal signed just a day earlier to unblock grain exports from Black Sea ports and ease global food shortages caused by the war.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike blatant "barbarism" showing Moscow could not be trusted to implement the deal. However, public broadcaster Suspilne quoted the Ukrainian military as saying the missiles had not caused significant…

11 Jul 2022

Baltic Dry Index Drops for Third Week

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The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, fell for a third straight week on Friday, as rates across vessel segments dropped.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, was down six points, or about 0.3%, at 2,067 points, posting a weekly fall of 6.6%The capesize index gained 65 points, or nearly 3%, at 2,270 points.Capesize rates shed about 4.7% for the week, posting their third consecutive weekly decline.Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000-180,000

30 Jun 2022

First Cargo Ship Leaves Ukraine's Occupied Port of Berdyansk

Berdyansk port (File photo) - Credit: ReitNN/AdobeStock

A first cargo ship has left the Russian-occupied Ukrainian port of Berdyansk, a local official said on Thursday, after Russia said the port had been de-mined and was ready to resume grain shipments."After a stoppage of several months the first cargo ship has left the Berdyansk port," Yevgeny Balitsky, a Russian-installed official in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, wrote on the Telegram messaging service.Russia's TASS and RIA news agencies cited Balitsky as saying the first cargo ship to leave Berdyansk was carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain to "friendly countries".

08 Jun 2022

Russia's Only Aircraft Carrier Suffers Another Repair Delay

The Admiral Kuznetsov Aircraft Carrier - Credit: Wikimedia Commons - CC BY 4.0

Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has suffered another repair delay and will not reenter service until 2024 at the earliest, Tass quoted a defense source as saying on Tuesday.The ship, launched in 1985, had been due to undergo a refit that would have seen it operational in 2023.The source told Tass that defects in the work had been discovered, and this meant the ship would remain in dock for longer than initially planned. The vessel had initially been due to return to service this year…

06 Jun 2022

Another Ship Sent to Take Metal to Russia Arrives in Mariupol

Credit: Bashkatov

A ship sent to load metal and ship it to Russia has entered the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, TASS news agency reported on Saturday, the second vessel to arrive in the southeastern city since Russia completed its capture last month."The ship has arrived and is in the port," TASS cited a port authority representative as saying, adding that it was to be loaded with metal.Earlier last week, a ship left Mariupol for Russia with a cargo of metal. Ukraine said the shipment from the port…

30 May 2022

Ship to Take Metal from Mariupol to Russia; Kyiv Decries Looting

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A ship has entered the Ukrainian port of Mariupol for the first time since Russia completed its capture of the city to load metal and ship it east to Russia, TASS news agency reported on Saturday, in a move that Kyiv decried as looting.A spokesperson for the port told TASS that the vessel would be loading 2,700 tonnes of metal before traveling 160 km (100 miles) east to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Monday.The spokesperson did not say where the metal being shipped had been…

14 Jan 2021

Report: Nord Stream 2 Set to Resume Pipelaying Works in Danish Waters

The Russia-led Nord Stream 2 consortium said on Thursday that work to lay its subsea gas pipeline to Germany would resume in Danish waters on Jan. 15, the TASS news agency reported, despite pressure from the United States for construction to stop.Russia said on Wednesday it was confident of completing the project, although two sources said the U.S. State Department had this month told European companies suspected of helping to build the pipeline that they faced possible sanctions.Nord Stream 2 has not responded to a [Reuters] request for comment.A Danish maritime regulator said last month construction work would resume in Danish waters in mid-January…

28 Dec 2020

Russian Fishing Trawler Sinks in Barents Sea, 17 Feared Dead

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A Russian fishing trawler capsized and sank in the freezing waters of the northern Barents Sea on Monday, with 17 of its 19 crew members feared dead.The Emergency Situations Ministry attributed the sinking to a heavy build-up of ice on the trawler, which sank off the coast of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.It said two crew members had been rescued by another fishing boat in the area and that searches to try to recover the rest of the crew were ongoing."Chances of survival in such conditions…

13 Apr 2022

Russia's Black Sea Flagship Hit by Ukrainian Missile

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Russia said on Thursday the flagship of its Black Sea fleet was seriously damaged and its crew evacuated following an explosion that a Ukrainian official said was the result of a missile strike.Russia's defence ministry said a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser caused ammunition to blow up, Interfax news agency reported.It did not say what caused the fire but Maksym Marchenko, the Ukrainian governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, said the Moskva had been hit…

16 Nov 2020

Russia Plans New Naval Facility in Sudan

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President Vladimir Putin on Monday approved the creation of a Russian naval facility in Sudan capable of mooring nuclear-powered surface vessels, clearing the way for Moscow’s first substantial military foothold in Africa since the Soviet fall.The new facility, earmarked to be built in the vicinity of Port Sudan, will be capable of accommodating up to 300 military and civilian personnel and improve Russia’s ability to operate in the Indian Ocean, expanding its influence in Africa.Putin presided over a flagship Russia-Africa summit last year…

03 Jun 2021

Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Construction Nears Completion

© Nord Stream 2 / Axel Schmidt (file photo)

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea is almost complete with just 100 kilometers (62 miles) left to build, TASS news agency quoted Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak as saying on Thursday."We hope that construction works on Nord Stream 2 will be completed by the end of this year," Novak told reporters of progress on the pipeline, which will allow Russia to ship more gas to Western Europe while bypassing Ukraine.The United States last month waived sanctions on the company behind the pipeline to Germany, a move opposed by critics of the project in the U.S.

05 Nov 2021

U.S. Navy Ship Tracked by Russia on Entry to Black Sea

Mount Whitney - File Photo: U.S. Navy

A U.S. naval command ship entered the Black Sea on Thursday as part of NATO maneuvers that drew a warm welcome from Ukraine but close scrutiny from the Russian navy. The U.S. navy said the Mount Whitney was in the region to conduct routine maritime operations with NATO allies and partners. The Black Sea - in particular the area near the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 - is a sensitive security zone for Moscow. "The forces and means of the Black Sea Fleet have started monitoring the actions of the Mount Whitney command ship…