VIDEO: Italy’s Guardia di Finanzia detains Russian-linked ship in Brindisi

Italy’s Guardia di Finanza has detained a ship that arrived in Brindisi from Russian Black Sea waters and placed it under emergency precautionary seizure. The ship, described only as “flying the flag of a small Oceanian island,” was carrying a cargo of 33,000 tons of ferrous metal.

The precautionary seizure was made pursuant to EU Regulation 833/2014, in compliance with sanctions against the Russian Federation adopted following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Media reports say that tracking data identify the vessel as likely the Hizir Reis, a Tuvalubulk carrier owned by Turkey’s Emiroglu Shipping, and flying the flag of Tuvalu

The Guardia di Finanza says that on the vessel’s arrival at the Port of Brindisi, the import declaration was processed by the Customs Agency’s analysis systems and that subsequent checks revealed serious inconsistencies, falsifications, and alterations to the on-board documentation relating to the locations of stops and loading operations of the goods.

In particular, the inspection carried out by Guardia di Finanza officers on a series of the ship’s documents, as well as the analysis of data extracted from the ship’s ECDIS system allowed them to ascertain that the vessel was stationed and operating in the Port of Novorossiysk (a sanctioned port of the Russian Federation) from November 13 to 16, 2025, carrying out prohibited cargo loading operations.

Following further inspections and analyses ct emerged that the vessel’s AIS system ad been deactivated near the Port of Novorossiysk, presumably with the intent of evading geolocation and hindering the control activities of the competent authorities.

Further evidence of this was provided by consulting the Lloyd’s Global Maritime database used by the Customs Agency.

“All the investigations carried out allowed us to reconstruct exactly the route and operations carried out by the vessel in violation of the Community Regulation on sanctions against the Russian Federation, despite the misleading statements of the Captain of the vessel and the attempts made to obstruct the facts by altering documents and turning off the transponder,” says the Guardia di Finanzia, adding that “the importer, the shipowner, and several crew members are being investigated jointly for circumventing European Union restrictive measures.”
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