On June 16 Turkish authorities released the Natasha 1 cargo ship which had been detained a few days ago in the port of Gallipoli on the Dardanelles.
This ship with a Ukrainian crew (20 people), Maltese flag and being property of Maltese Mish Shipping Co. was sailing from the Ukrainian town of Illichivsk to the Egyptian port of Alexandria. According to the information given to our correspondent in the Ukrainian embassy in Turkey this cargo ship was freighted by the company Yedinstvo-2, Ltd. It is written in all papers that its freight included spare parts for XTZ tractors, KamAZ trucks, and one MTZ-93 tractor. Also according with the documents the recipients of this freight was to be Ministry of Defense of Egypt and a few private Egyptian firms.
At the same time Turkish authorities claim that there were seven traction engines and platforms for the ZRK-300 anti-aircraft complex on board. It was revealed that Russia was to ship the same complex to Greek community in Cyprus. Turkey interpreted this as a threat to its security and announced that it would do anything possible to prevent the assembly of this complex (even missile strikes if needed).
This is why Turkey had a suspicion that instead of Egypt Natasha 1 was heading toward Cyprus. The ship was not impounded but merely detained for a customs check. Probably the Ukrainian seamen were able to prove that their destination is Egypt, which is why they were allowed to leave.






