Cruise ship that outraged Georgians belongs to Russian businessman sanctioned in Ukraine
The Georgian TV company Pirveli reported that the cruise ship Astoria Grande, the arrival of which was protested in Batumi due to the presence of Russian tourists on board, is owned by Russian businessman Dmitry Purim.
Source: Pirveli TV channel, as European Pravda reports
The Astoria Grande ship is officially registered in the Seychelles to avoid sanctions. However, Pirveli claims that its real owner is Dmitry Purim, against whom Ukraine has imposed sanctions.
Purim is the chairman of the board of directors of Sovfracht. That company provides transport and logistics services, sea and river cargo transport, and ship agency services.
According to Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention, the sanctions were imposed on him because he is a member of the senior management of a "systemically important company involved in material support of actions that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine".
Sovfracht has been under US sanctions since 1 September 2016 for its activities in occupied Crimea.
Background:
- On 31 July, the Astoria Grande is expected to arrive in Batumi for the second time. Russian propagandists and artists who support the war are expected to be aboard the cruise ship.
- Among them will be Mitya Fomin, a singer who is an outspoken supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine and Putin's regime.
- On 27 July, the Astoria Grande cruise ship carrying Russian tourists arrived in Batumi, Georgia, causing local residents to protest. They chanted "Russian ship, go f**k yourself" and "Abkhazia is Georgia", and brought photographs depicting Abkhazia and the events of the August war [in 1992 between Georgia and Russia in the region of Abkhazia - ed.].
- That same evening, the ship left Batumi, two days earlier than planned.
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