Before Ursa Major sank, Spain’s Salvamento Marítimo maritime rescue agency said 14 people were found on a lifeboat and taken safely to Spain and a Russian warship then arrived in the area to take charge of the rescue operation.

Ursa Major was in the same area of the Med as another sanctioned Russian ship, Sparta, when it ran into trouble and the two ships had been spotted heading through the English Channel last week, reportedly under escort.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) reported that the Sparta was heading to Russia’s naval base on the Syrian coast at Tartous to move military equipment out of Syria after the downfall of Bashar al-Assad.

A Kremlin official said on Monday that Russia was in contact with Syria’s new rulers on the future of its two military facilities. at both diplomatic and military level.

Ursa Major’s owner Oboronlogistika has been heavily involved in transporting cargo to Tartous, although Sparta’s reported destination on Tuesday was Port Said in Egypt.

Marine transport monitoring website LSEG told the BBC that Ursa Major’s automatic ID system (AIS) showed that its destination since 11 December had been Vladivostok, although on a previous voyage in September its destination had come up as Tartous.