Small hydrographic ship KAPITAN ZIBER, project R101GS.M (flag Ukraine, MMSI number 272142100), recently went through an illegal classification survey by the federal autonomous institution “russian maritime register of shipping”. The vessel was seized by russian troops in the spring of 2022 amidst the aggression against Ukraine.
Surveyors from the so-called Sevastopol unit of the russian register assigned the class and issued the ship’s documents. This constitutes a gross violation of Ukraine’s jurisdiction over its own merchant fleet and sovereignty over its internal waters.
russia has violated the UNCLOS Convention provisions regarding nationality, registration and immunity of ships, as well as regulation V/9 of the SOLAS Convention, by which parties undertake to cooperate and coordinate internationally in carrying out nautical and hydrographic services for shipping.
The KAPITAN ZIBER is owned by Ukraine, and the registered shipowner is the State Hydrographic Service of Ukraine (SHSU). It was built in 1968 at the Black Sea Shipyard in Mykolaiv, and in 2015 its hull and equipment underwent comprehensive modernisation at the Kyiv Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant. Overhaul and further operation is carried out under the classification and technical supervision of the State Enterprise “Classification Society Ukrainian Register of Shipping”.
Until March 2022, KAPITAN ZIBER performed tasks in the area of responsibility of the Mariupol Section of the Mykolaiv Branch of SHSU: it carried out hydrographic surveys and installed navigational marks in the waters of the Berdiansk and Mariupol seaports.
Representatives of SHSU highlighted the fact of the vessel’s forcible seizure at meetings of the International Hydrographic Organization, particularly in Ukraine’s national reports to the Mediterranean and Black Seas Hydrographic Commission (MBSHC) and the Black and Azov Seas Working Group (BASWG).
According to statements of the occupying authorities, the issue of certificates for the KAPITAN ZIBER is “strategically important” for the operation of ports in the Sea of Azov, which have been officially closed by Ukraine since 28 April 2022. Their port facilities are used by russia to smuggle Ukrainian grain, steel and other products from the temporarily occupied territories, as well as to transport military cargo.
In August 2025, an attempt was made to include Berdiansk and Mariupol in the list of ports of the russian federation open to foreign ships, which was condemned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in circular letter No. 5067 of the International Maritime Organization.
The activities of the russian maritime register of shipping in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, along with provision of services to numerous vessels belonging to the russian “shadow fleet”, clearly demonstrate its active role in supporting the russian federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
We call upon the maritime community to follow the lead of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) and refrain from any cooperation with the federal autonomous institutions “russian maritime register of shipping” and “russian classification society” while firmly upholding the rules of international law and respecting the sovereignty of flag and coastal states.