TWO Russia-flagged cargo vessels, including one with registered ownership incorporated in the Marshall Islands, are shipping munitions to Russia from North Korea at scale to use against Ukraine, according to UK defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute.

The 9,484 dwt general cargoship Maria (IMO: 8517839) and 7,331 dwt ro-ro Angara (IMO: 9179842) are likely shipping munitions and military material in containers, RUSI said, citing vessel tracking and satellite imagery.

Some five shipments, from the North Korean port of Rajin to Dunai, on Russia’s eastern coast, were tracked from August to as recently as October 13. Vessels switched off their Automatic Identification System to mask their origin and destination, images showed.

The report underscores the role that commercially operated vessels are playing in illicit activities, and their use of Western-linked companies.

Angara was sanctioned by the US government on May 2022, but Maria has yet to be designated, RUSI said in a report published October 16, titled The Orient Express: North Korea’s Clandestine Supply Route to Russia.

Angara is owned by NB Shipping Company, according to the Lloyd’s List Intelligence database, which has a further two ro-ro vessels in its fleet, all sanctioned.

Other databases list the Angara’s ISM manager as Marine Trans Shipping LLC in Russia since August 2020, with the registered owner M Leasing LLC, also incorporated in Russia.

Maria’s registered owner is Ibex Shipping Inc, which provides an address in Nicosia. The shipmanager and commercial manager is Vladivostok-based Azia Shipping Co, shipping databases show.

There is no company under that name in the Cyprus companies house registry, but the IMO company number corresponds with a Marshall Islands company of the same name, according to the IMO GISIS database. The Marshall Islands registry is run by US-incorporated International Registries Inc.

Ibex Shipping is the owner of a further two cargo vessels, Lloyd’s List Intelligence data shows: Captain Yakubovich (IMO: 8318740) and Arkadiy Chernyshev (IMO: 8714695).

Containers shipped to eastern Russia were tracked by RUSI via high resolution imagery to the town of Tikhoretsk, in Russia’s Krasnodar region, and onward to the Ukraine border about 100 km away. Tikhoretsk faced the Kerch Strait and Russia-occupied Crimea, the report said.

“Both vessels are owned and operated by companies with connections to Russia’s military logistics network,” according to the report.

Angara was previously linked to weapons shipments from Russia to Sudan and Syria, RUSI said.

“The sale of such quantities of munitions will fill the coffers of the cash-strapped regime in Pyongyang, which has traditionally used the proceeds of arms deliveries to develop its own nuclear and ballistic missile programme in violation of UN sanctions,” the report said.

“Moreover, in addition to the pecuniary benefits, North Korea may seek other assistance from Russia in return for its support, including the provision of missile and other advanced military technologies. 

“Pyongyang’s decision to deliver munitions at scale once again underscores the grave threat that North Korea poses to international security, this time feeding a conflagration on European soil that has already cost the lives of tens of thousands of Ukrainians and consumed tens of billions of dollars in Western military support.”