Ukraine to sell Russian tanker Nika Spirit at auction.

The National Agency for the tracing and management of assets (ARMA) has received a ruling from the Dnipro district court in Kyiv regarding the transfer of the Russian tanker Nika Spirit for realization.

According to the head of ARMA, Olena Duma, this decision became possible thanks to the initiative of ARMA and the petition of the prosecutor's office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Previously, by court decision, this asset was transferred to ARMA for management.

"During the war, it is advisable to focus on the realization of expensive arrested assets, such as the tanker Nika Spirit, instead of finding managers. This approach allows faster replenishment of the state budget with funds that can be directed to defense needs. We have already contacted law enforcement agencies with the relevant documents regarding the possibility of changing the mechanism for working with seized property. Instead of transferring individual assets to management, ARMA proposes to carry out their realization through the ProZorro.Sale electronic auction system," the head of ARMA announced.

The official noted that thanks to the established processes on ProZorro.Sale, the state is already receiving funds daily from the realization of seized property.

"This successful case with the tanker Nika Spirit opens the way to large-scale and rapid inflows to the state budget in war conditions. Next — a contest for the organizer of the realization, selection of an independent appraiser, assessment and publication of the asset on ProZorro.Sale," informed Duma.

We remind you that the tanker Nika Spirit (previously known as Neyma) was detained on July 24, 2019, in the port of Izmail. According to the international information system Equasis, the ship with IMO number 8895528 was identified as being used to block the Kerch Strait in November 2018.