The U.S. has imposed sanctions for transporting stolen Ukrainian grain

On 2 April 2025, the United States imposed sanctions on the Russian vessel Zafar and persons connected to the ship. Two Afghan businessmen, brothers Hushang and Sohrab Ghairat, and two captains, former Yuri Belyakov and present captain Vyacheslav Vidanov, have been placed on the restricted list. The latter two are Russian citizens. The sanctions also affected AM Asia M6 Ltd, a Hong Kong-based transport company.

According to the US Treasury Department, the Ghairat brothers helped Sa’id al-Jamal, the financier of the Houthis (an armed group in Yemen representing Zaydists, the country’s Shia Muslim minority), who is under US sanctions, to buy millions of dollars worth of weapons and grain stolen from Russia in Ukraine. In the summer and fall of 2024, they orchestrated at least two shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain from Crimea to Yemen on board the Russia-flagged AM Theseus, also known as the Zafar.

In June 2024, BIC journalists wrote about a similar route used to transport stolen Ukrainian barley to Iran. The delivery of 60,000 tonnes of grain was carried out by the aforementioned bulk carrier Zafar and another vessel named Zaid.

US sanctions owners of Zafar bulk carrier for transporting stolen Ukrainian grain to Yemen