As we wrote in April 2023, the illegal “authorities” of the occupiers are closely cooperating with the illegal “firm” “Atla”, located in Sevastopol, illegally carrying out “repair, modernization and adjustment of technological equipment for the processing of fish and krill raw materials on fishing vessels and food industry enterprises”.
We noted that on the “Atla” website, the New Zealand company “Sealord Group” was named as its business partner. “Sealord Group Ltd”, registered in Nelson, which is a manufacturer of fishery products and operates eight New Zealand flagged fishing vessels, and at least one of them, namely the “Meridian-1” IMO number 8838520, receives “technical support” from the sub-sanctioned Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.
In connection with the mentioned situation, in April, our Association requested, in a submission prepared by Professor Boris Babin, the competent authorities of New Zealand, the European Commission and the structures of other interested countries to study this issue regarding violations of the sanctions policy.
We have now received a notification from the European Commission that this described case has been preliminary examined by the European External Action Service (EEAS) and submitted for investigation to the national competent authorities. The ARC will continue monitoring the situation and appropriate interaction with the structures of the European Union and New Zealand.
