He has not left his pool for a year and the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Landed on the calm waters of the port of Saint-Malo, the Vladimir Latyshev is a collateral victim of the armed conflict which has pitted the two countries since February 24, 2022. For a year and its arrival in Brittany, the 141-meter-long Russian cargo ship is blocked there, due to the freezing of Russian assets decided by France. When can he go back? No one can say today, which raises concerns for the future of this boat, but also for the Russian sailors who have occupied the ghost ship for a year, under house arrest in a country they do not know.
Its long navy blue carcass is not very discreet. In Saint-Malo, however, we see very little of Vladimir Latyshev. Moored alongside a Timac Agro loading dock, the Russian ship is out of sight. The general public cannot access the cargo and only the employees of the animal nutrition company can approach it. Aboard the stationary ship, a dozen sailors live there, more than 3,000 kilometers from Moscow. “They are free to move, they can go out whenever they want. The only thing we ask them is to put on a yellow vest when they cross the site to avoid collisions with our vehicles,” explains a Timac employee.
Uncomfortable in English, Russian sailors have few exchanges with the local population. But they sometimes venture as far as the famous ramparts of the corsair city. Last summer, they even went regularly to the beach located about ten minutes away on foot. “The situation was especially complicated at the beginning. They learned of the Russian invasion when they arrived at the port. They saw demonstrations, they were afraid,” says Laure Tallonneau, Russian-speaking ITF inspector (International transport workers’ federation), an international federation that supports seafarers.
In France, she is one of the only contacts of these sailors under house arrest because of a conflict that goes far beyond them. “There are regular changes but they generally stay four or five months. Being away from home, they’re used to it, they’re sailors. The problem is that they don’t have much to do. For them, there is no horizon, no goal. There is a little maintenance on board but as the boat is not sailing, it is not complicated”, continues Laure Tallonneau.
” To please yourself “
Difficult for them to go and “enjoy themselves” with a salary of around 500 euros per month, a good part of which is often sent home to help the family. There have been some conflicts on board, perhaps linked to crowding and boredom. But overall, the arrival of the Russian ship did not make waves in the port of the corsair city.
They are sometimes seen going into town walking there. We have no problem with them
The Vladimir Latyshev was to deliver magnesia to Timac Agro, which he was able to do. The copper coils, which he was then to bring to North Africa, were transshipped. Since then, the holds of the boat have been empty and the cargo ship remains moored to a quay that the Timac must sometimes use for the export of goods. In one year, the ship had to be moved five to six times. “The difficulty is that the procedure for seizing the boat is controlled by customs. We have no information. We are spectators. We have no idea how long this will last,” admits Stéphane Perrin-Sarzier, vice-president of the Brittany region, which operates the port. Seized by the shipowner, French justice could rule during a hearing in May, but nothing guarantees it.
The shipowner pays 7,000 euros per month
Every month, the Russian shipowner still has to pay 7,000 euros in shipping costs, and sometimes a few ancillary purchases of fuel or equipment. “It has always been paid for, we have no difficulty in receiving payments”, assures the elected official. The shipowner must also pay the crew who remain on board the ship. The question that arises is how long will he do it? “Our fear is that the shipowner will abandon ship. There, we will find ourselves with a really complicated situation to deal with. For the moment, there is no question of it because the boat is in good condition, it has a market value. But for how long ? asks the regional elected official.
Laure Tallonneau is worried about her for the sailors. What will happen if their owner withdraws? “They have nothing to do with this conflict. One can also wonder about the immobilization of the boat. What is this punishment really for? France is the only country to have blocked commercial ships. She has to free this boat, ”says the ITF member. For the time being, all letters and requests addressed to the French State have remained unanswered. Elsewhere, immobilized boats have already been “thawed out”. But not the Vladimir Latyshev or the Victor Andryukhin, which is in a carafe in Marseille. It would seem that these two ships belong to a Russian ministry. But in the jungle of the maritime world, it is difficult to verify this. In the meantime, the stopover drags on for the captain and his sailors.