Russian ship with Rooppur Nuke Plant tools denied Haldia Port

Russian cargo ship Surgut in the port of Bruges. RepresentationL image. Wikimedia Commons

Jehangir Hussain

The Indian government has refused to let the Russian flag ship URSA MAJOR, carrying equipment for Bangladesh’s first  nuclear power plant to anchor and offload at West Bengal's Haldia Port, as the vessel faces US sanctions.

The Russian ship is now heading back to Russia. For last one month, the Ursa Major waited off the coast of the Sunderbans.

A Foreign Ministry official said in Dhaka that the Russian embassy in Dhaka  informed them that the ship is moving back to Russia.

URSA MAJOR is also referred to as Sparta 3.

On May 8, 2022, the US State Department imposed sanctions on this ship and identified it as a blocked property. 

Earlier, the government of Bangladesh denied entry to the Russian ship.

On December 24, URSA MAJOR was supposed to reach Mongla Port.

The US embassy in Dhaka informed Bangladesh on December 20 that the vessel carrying the goods was not URSA MAJOR, but Sparta 3, which faces US sanctions.

After confirming the matter, Bangladesh authorities refused to let the ship anchor at Mongla Port.

The Department of Shipping told the local shipping agent of Sparta 3 that it would help the ship offload the materials at Haldia Port in  West Bengal and then bring the equipment to Rooppur by waterway or road.

ROSATOM, the Russian Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation is the contractor of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) has issued a statement on Thursday taking full responsibility to complete the project on schedule.

“Rosatom takes full responsibility for compliance with the schedule for the construction of the Rooppur NPP in Bangladesh. Nuclear power plant construction works are running in full swing. For the project implementation, we are in cooperation with a significant number of partners, and working on finding out optimal logistics routes,” said the statement. 

However, Ursa Major (former name of Sparta III) is not just any ship. She is linked to Russian shipping company SC South, which delivers cargo for the Russian Ministry of Defense, including construction materials for Russia's string of bases in the High Arctic, according to the US state department.

 SC South is a subsidiary of Oboronlogistika OOO, a logistics provider serving the Russian military. Both companies were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in May 2022 in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Science and Technology Ministry has ban the ship from entering the country and delivering her cargo, following the ban, the Russian embassy in Dhaka sent a formal letter of protest to the Bangladeshi government.

"Russia informed us that they sent the vessel by mistake and would now replace it with another ship to carry the consignment for Rooppur power plant and deliver it at the Bangladesh port," said Yeafesh Osman.

The last shipments for the Rooppur plant were delivered aboard a mix of Russian and neutral, foreign-flag vessels. These include the Russian-flagged Kamilla and the Liberian-flagged Dragonball.

“They (Russian) will send the equipment through other foreign-flag vessels what they told us,” Yeafesh Osman said on Thursday.

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