France: what to do with the Russian Vladimir Martus and his ship the ‘Shtandart’?

The Russian ship ‘Shtandart’ is continuing its campaign against EU sanctions by demanding a new port of call in Finistère, Brittany. Vladimir Martus is resorting to his usual harassment and humanitarian blackmail. Here is the action plan we are proposing to the Maritime Prefect, Commander-in-Chief for the Atlantic, and the Prefect of Finistère to put a definitive end to the mission of interference and destabilisation, of which Martus is the hero for the Kremlin’s propaganda agencies, thanks to his bullying of the French and European authorities.

To the attention of :
Vice-Admiral Jean-François Quérat, Maritime Prefect, Commander-in-Chief for the Atlantic
Mr Alain Espinasse, Prefect of Finistère

Copy to :
European Commission,
Quai d’Orsay,
Maritime Prefecture Channel – North Sea,
Prefecture of the Manche department,
Press

17th August 2024,

Admiral,
Mr Prefect of Finistère,

On his company’s website, Vladimir Martus, captain of the Russian vessel ‘Shtandart’, offers commercial services¹ to destinations where he is not allowed to dock.

Vladimir Martus is knowingly putting his passengers at risk in order to blackmail and harass the French authorities. The Maritime Prefect for the Atlantic and, potentially, the Maritime Prefect for the Channel and North Sea are particularly targeted. The same applies to the Prefect of Finistère. It might soon be true for the Prefect of the Manche département.

We believe that, as in Spain², the ‘Shtandart’ should be allowed, under guard and for a limited time, to berth. There, Vladimir Martus should be arrested for deliberately and repeatedly endangering the lives of others before being deported to the country of which he is a citizen. It would be wise to notify him of a future ban from France. Passengers who are minors should be returned home at the shipowner’s expense.

After this final refuelling, the ‘Shtandart’, banned from French territorial waters, will have to sail to St Petersburg or to a port not subject to European sanctions. The nearest is Tangiers in Morocco, where the ‘Shtandart’ already called in March and April 2024^{3 4}.

On board, during the eviction trip, authority would be exercised by a Vladimir Martus’ first mate, if one is available and sufficiently qualified, or by a professional skipper paid by the shipowner. For greater ease and speed, a route under engine supported by the brigantine could be envisaged. The 26 m hull is, in fact, overpowered by two 560 hp Volvo engines, ensuring a top speed of 13 knots. Vladimir Martus was delighted to claim that his combined yacht had more power than the large Russian tall ship ‘Mir’ (109.2 m, 2,385 t).

In our opinion, we must avoid seizing the vessel itself. Such an option would be a source of embarrassment and expense, and could even lead to public disorder. It is possible to predict a situation where Maria Martus, the shipowner according to Vladimir Martus’ statement to the court in Rennes⁵, refuses to cover the costs of the ship eviction, the deportation of Martus and the repatriation of underage passengers. In this case, in accordance with European regulations⁶, it would be appropriate to ask the German authorities to seize the funds of « Martus TV GmbH⁷ », domiciled in Hamburg. This company is the one that collects the payments⁸ received for the ‘Shtandart’ services provided in breach of the 5th round of the sanctions.

Action must be taken without delay. The threat and nuisance posed by the current situation of the ‘Shtandart’ should not be underestimated. Its campaign of interference and destabilisation specifically targets the maritime environment, where Martus has numerous Trojan horses⁹, as well as public opinion more generally. The man who presents himself as a ‘dissident’ has unleashed a true nationalist enthusiasm in the Russian media and the Kremlin’s propaganda organs (RBC, TASS, Ria Novosti, RT, Sputnik…) with which he is in almost daily contact. His mission is clear. All you need to do is see the hundreds of articles that have appeared about him since the beginning of July 2024. Vladimir Martus is the hero of the sanctions fraud and the challenging of French and European authorities. By way of example, we could mention :

• Komsomolskaya Pravda, 06/08/2024 – Russian sailing ship ‘Shtandart’ to make third attempt to breach EU sanctions (RU)
  
• Spb Dnevik, 06/08/2024 – The Russian sailing ship ‘Shtandart’ will try again to violate European sanctions (RU)
  
• Komsomolskaya Pravda, 15/08/2024 – ‘We don’t agree’: the captain of the sailing ship ‘Shtandart’ sues the European Union over sanctions (RU)

Yours sincerely

Bernard Grua

Notes

1. https://shtandart.eu/services/sail-with-us/ ︎ ↩︎
2. El Faro de Vigo, 30/07/2024 – ‘The Russian frigate Shtandart finds humanitarian aid in the port of Cee to continue sailing.’ (SP) ↩︎
3. https://shtandart.eu/fr/la-rochelle-tanger-sete/ ↩︎
4. https://shtandart.eu/fr/sete-la-rochelle-01-04-29-04/ ↩︎
5. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XBavDiEPaxXRmp6mNS4QZQcqylRtD7TU/view ↩︎
6. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/06/09/eu-sanctions-council-finalises-position-on-law-that-aligns-penalties-for-violations/
   https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/04/12/council-gives-final-approval-to-introduce-criminal-offences-and-penalties-for-eu-sanctions-violation/ ↩︎
7. https://www.northdata.de/Martus+TV+GmbH,+Hamburg/HRB+119848 ↩︎
8. https://shtandart.eu/de/requisites_anp_shtandart/ ↩︎
9. Ria Novosty, 23/07/2024 – ‘French NGO explains authorities’ refusal to let Russian frigate into port’ (RU) ↩︎

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