Russia Continues Military Shipments Through Black Sea

A Russian ship loaded with military equipment entered the Black Sea on the night of March 4. The ship, Sparta iv, was loaded in Syria and quietly passed through the Bosporus on its way to a Russian base in the Black Sea. Naval News reports that the ship is carrying military vehicles and other war supplies.

Last year, Turkey closed the Bosporus Strait to warships because of the war in Ukraine, but that didn’t stop Russia from transporting military equipment. Russia began using merchant vessels and cargo ships instead in an attempt to quietly move war supplies through the strait.

Defense expert Yörük Işık spotted and photographed the ship, calling it a “civilian vessel in name only.”

Sparta iv is one of four ships owned by SC South llc, a Russian shipping company involved in transporting military equipment. The ship was reportedly loaded with military vehicles in a Russian naval base at Tartus in Syria. As it sailed through the Bosporus, the ship’s draft was 20 feet, suggesting a heavy load.

Despite Turkey’s closure of the Bosporus Strait, Russian military shipments to the Black Sea have continued throughout the war with Ukraine. Sparta iv has previously been suspected of conducting arms shipments to Russia. Another vessel, Sparta ii, transported Russian S-300 missiles in August 2022, taking the same route from Russia’s naval base in Tartus, Syria, to Novorossiysk, a Black Sea port in southern Russia.

‘Prince of Russia’ not yet spent: The war in Ukraine has lasted significantly longer than Vladimir Putin anticipated, and Russia is suffering extremely high losses. However, Russia still has considerable amounts of firepower left and continues to resupply its forces.

Ultimately, the Trumpet expects Russia to prevail because of Putin’s role in Bible prophecy. In his booklet The Prophesied ‘Prince of Russia,’ Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes: “[Y]our Bible prophesies that [Putin] will be responsible for more deaths than any leader in man’s history! Mr. Putin’s warfare is going to lead directly into the Second Coming of Christ.”