India on Tuesday summoned Russia’s Charge d’Affaires following an attack on a vessel off the Ukraine coast days earlier, which led to the deaths of four Indian seafarers, according to people familiar with the matter. The vessel, identified as MV Golden Leo, was struck as it departed Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa on Sunday.
Event Context
India had on Monday condemned the attack on the Guinea Bissau-flagged merchant vessel, which killed 10 seafarers on board, and reiterated its call for an end to the targeting of commercial shipping during conflicts. The ministry of external affairs had in a statement, without naming Russia, said, “India condemns such attacks and reiterates that targeting commercial shipping and endangering innocent civilian crew members, or otherwise impeding freedom of navigation and commerce, is deplorable and should be avoided.”
This is the first instance of the death of Indian seafarers in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. New Delhi has already lodged strong protests with Tehran and Washington earlier over the deaths of more than half a dozen Indian seafarers in Iranian and US attacks on merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks.
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According to the Ukrainian navy, Russia struck the Guinea-Bissau-flagged vessel– which had crew members from India and Syria – with three cruise missiles. Following this, the MEA said four Indian nationals were killed and one was hospitalised in a critical condition.
MV Golden Leo was a general cargo ship, and was carrying 17 crew members on board at the time of the incident. Ukraine’s seaport authority said on Monday that nine crew members of the Golden Leo and a Ukrainian pilot from the port were among the dead.
