A Russian vessel linked to North Korean arms smuggling dropped off cargo at the port of Rason late last month, while hiding its location in an apparent attempt to conceal the visit, an NK Pro investigation has found.

A freighter with hull dimensions strongly matching the Lev Yashin — but better known by its previous name the Maria — docked at Rason’s northern pier on May 29, Planet Labs satellite imagery shows. The vessel appears to offload objects resembling lumber or wooden crates containing unknown cargo.

The ship (IMO 8517839) obscured its trip to North Korea by switching off its geolocation signal on May 28 before detouring to Rason, only resuming broadcasts on May 30 once en route to its current location near Vladivostok.

The clear three-day gap in broadcasts overlapped with the freighter’s appearance at the DPRK port on May 29-30.

Before the trip to Rason, the ship continuously transmitted its location, including when it picked up its cargo at the Russian Far East port of Sovetskaya Gavan, MarineTraffic showed.

Planet Labs low-resolution imagery confirmed the Maria’s arrival at Sovetskaya Gavan on May 22, when it berthed at a pier adjacent to a sawmill facility known to ship timber goods.

Goods resembling those later delivered to Rason also appeared scattered along the Sovetskaya Gavan pier that day, disappearing after the Maria sailed to North Korea a few days later.

The nature of the cargo remains unclear, and it is difficult to determine from satellite imagery alone whether it was timber or crates carrying other goods, possibly including military equipment.

But one expert emphasized that legal trade would not normally require a ship to conceal its whereabouts and destination.

“The vessel does not appear to hide itself except when visiting Rason,” Katsu Furukawa, a former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts, told NK Pro. “Its [signal broadcasts] for most of the voyage suggest it prioritizes safety over secrecy, except when calling to the DPRK port.”

Given the ship’s past links to the Russian military, the expert suggested that it was carrying non-sensitive but prohibited “dual-use goods” to North Korea, such as construction materials for military sites or shipbuilding materials for naval use.

The Maria is one of four Russian vessels suspected of shipping arms and munitions through Rason since 2023, part of Pyongyang’s efforts to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The ship dropped out of the operation in 2025 only to return to Rason on May 12, NK Pro previously found. It likely loaded cargo at Rason before sailing to Vladivostok around May 13.

The freighter eventually set sail to Sovetskaya Gavan on May 18, according to MarineTraffic and Planet Labs low-resolution imagery.

Its port call at Rason coincided with an exodus of other Russian smuggling vessels, such as the Angara, Lady R and Maia-1 and three other freighters in the country’s shadow fleet, from the Sea of Japan (East Sea) under Russian naval escort.

The Maria has been commercially managed by Cyprus-based Azia Shipping Holdings Ltd. since April 21, while Vladivostok-based Azia Shipping Co. has served as its safety management company, Equasis and International Maritime Organization records show. The U.S. has sanctioned both companies.

It also re-assumed its old name of Lev Yashin in April, maritime data showed, after sailing as the Maria since Sept. 2023.

The same two companies originally managed the vessel when it joined the Rason arms-smuggling scheme in Sept. 2023, according to Equasis. But management control was handed to Russia’s JSC Sovfracht, which owns the Lady R, on Sept. 26 that year.

Sovfracht has links to the Russian military and was previously suspected of playing a role in jet fuel deliveries to Russian forces in Syria.

The Maria/Lev Yashin is owned by the Cyprus-based IBEX Shipping, which is subject to U.S. sanctions along with the Maria and another freighter suspected of delivering armored vehicles to Myanmar.

Edited by Bryan Betts