Shtandart ship leaves Irish waters after gardaí and coastguard attend Clogherhead pier

Irish Independent

3 days ago

The Shtandart, an exact copy of a ship built by Peter the Great of Russia in 1703, was attended by both gardaí and the coastguard when she docked at the Louth port to replenish at 2am.
She left three hours later, at 5am, and has departed the European economic zone (EEZ) for British waters.
The Shtandart was both shadowed and monitored throughout by the new Irish inshore naval ship, LE Aoibhinn, on one of her first patrols since being acquired from the New Zealand navy and recommissioned.
A Defence Forces press officer said in response to the Irish Independent queries: "As part of Maritime Defence and Security Operations (MDSO) the Defence Forces monitors maritime traffic within the Irish EEZ as a matter of routine."
The Captain of the replica said on the Claire Byrne radio programme yesterday that he was pro-Ukraine, and that the vessel was an active sail training ship under the flag of the Cook Islands.
It is understood that it had previously been under the Russian flag -- and could have been seized under Western sanctions following the Ukraine invasion.
Dún Laoghaire TD Barry Ward had called for the removal of the vessel, which invited comparisons to "The Pirates of the Caribbean" when anchored this week in Killiney Bay.
He said all Russian ships are banned from entering EU ports due to sanctions "put in place in reaction to the appalling atrocities carried out by Vladimir Putin and his administration'.
"If we are to be serious about their implementation, we must adhere to them," he added.
The Shtandart was built in 1999 and in recent weeks banned from entering a number of French ports including Saint-Malo.
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"While the Shtandart operates under a Cook Islands flag, this has only been the case since June 2024 and previously sailed under a Russian flag," Mr Ward said.
"European Union sanctions introduced a port ban on Russia-flagged vessels, and those reflagged after the invasion of Ukraine, in April 2022. No Irish officers boarded the Shtandart during the three hours she was in Clogherhead, but State vehicles and personnel were on the pierhead.
'While this boat is allowed to transition through Irish waters, there is a legal grey area. This ship has a history of declaring false emergencies in order to gain extended access to European ports," Mr Ward claimed.
'The European commission has specifically clarified that this vessel falls under the scope of the sanctions and these sanctions must be upheld."
Ukrainian Action in Ireland, an Irish charity working with the Ukrainian community in Ireland, issued a letter to Irish maritime authorities requesting that they "deny entry to Irish ports to the Shtandart".
"We don't want that ship to be welcomed here," explained Anatoliy Prymakov from Ukrainian Action in Ireland.
"We want them to know that Ireland stands with Ukraine. We want them to know you can only parade your ship around Europe once Russia has ceased its war on Ukraine. The ship is a facade for a bloody regime."
The ship's captain, Vladimir Martus, told RTÉ News that it was sailing to Aberdeen with 22 people from 12 nations on board.
He said criticism of the ship was "unjust and unfair".
"We are against what Putin is doing and nobody on this ship has ever expressed support for Russia," he said.
"The Shtandart is simply a replica vessel. We are not a Russian vessel. Shtandart is, and always has been, dedicated to education, heritage, and human connection.
"We are a homeless child in European waters, and we are fighting for survival," he told RTÉ.