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Russian Military Cargo Ship Heads for Turkey from Tobruk

Russian military cargo ship
Yuriy Arshenevskiy vessel which has been known to carry Russian military cargo (Aart van Bezooijen photo courtesy of VesselFinder)

Published Sep 25, 2026 10:13 AM by The Maritime Executive

A Russian-flagged cargo ship with a history of ties to weapons shipments and sanctioned military cargo vessels has broken away from a convoy that had a naval escort into the port of Tobruk in Libya. It has headed north through the Dardanelles towards the Bosporus and the Black Sea.

The Yuriy Arshenevskiy (IMO 8406705) was sailing with the US-sanctioned cargo vessel Anastasiia (IMO 9349291), with an escort provided by the Ropucha Class landing ship Aleksandr Shabalin (L110) when it left the Baltiysk naval base in the Kaliningrad headquarters of Russia’s Baltic Fleet, transited the Strait of Gibraltar in early September, then arrived in the port of Tobruk. Ural trucks and armored vehicles were seen on the quayside in Baltiysk being loaded onto the two cargo vessels. At the other end in Tobruk, social media postings showed tarpaulin-covered military vehicles, including what appeared to be 8-wheeled armored personnel carriers and multiple-barreled rocket launchers, being moved out of the port on low loaders. 

 

The Yuriy Arshenevskiy makes its way north through the Dardanelles, September 24 (VesselFinder)

 

It is not clear when the Anastasiia and the landing ship Aleksandr Shabalin (L110) left Tobruk. From low-resolution imagery, it appears that the Anastasiia was on the quayside still on September 21, but on September 25 she was cruising westwards between Sicily and Malta. The Yuriy Arshenevskiy left sometime beforehand, and was seen passing through the Dardanelles with its AIS system switched on late on September 24. It was approaching the Bosporus early on September 25, but now appears to have switched course and is heading for the anchorage or port at Tuzla. It was previously incorrectly reported that the Yuriy Arshenevskiy was sanctioned, but this is not the case – not that sanctioned status would have been a bar to transit of the Bosporus, as Turkey – unlike Iran – strictly applies UNCLOS rules regarding innocent passage through narrow channels. 

The military equipment was unloaded in Tobruk, which is controlled by Field Marshal Haftar’s Libyan National Army, while the Turkish government supports the other side in the Libyan civil war, the UN-recognized government based in Tripoli. 

 

A convoy of low-loaders moves military equipment out of Tobruk docks (Screen grab from Tanasuh TV)

 

If the Yuriy Arshenevskiy resumes its journey northwards and heads through the Bosporus, it will become vulnerable to similar attacks that Ukraine has mounted previously on Russian-flagged vessels in the Black Sea, particularly as the vessel has an association with the movement of arms and military equipment. While the vessel was still in the Mediterranean, it appears to have escaped the attention of the Ukrainian drone unit, which is believed to be based in Misrata – midway between Tripoli and Tobruk – and which is believed to have carried out several attacks against sanctioned and Russian dark fleet vessels. But whether the Yuriy Arshenevskiy resumes its journey northwards, or turns round and heads back into the Mediterranean, whichever way, it will be vulnerable to Ukrainian attack.

 

Top photo by Aart van Bezooijen - courtesy of VesselFinder