Capture of Tanker Tuapse

The Capture of Tanker Tuapse is the incident of a civilian vessel of Soviet Union being captured and confiscated by the Republic of China Navy in the high sea on 23 June 1954, whereas the sailors were detained for various time frames during the Martial Law period till the final release in 1988.
Background.
On 18 June 1949 during the Chinese Civil War, the Government of the Republic of China (ROC) announced the Closed Port Policy to establish an actual aerial and naval blockade on the territorial waters along the Chinese coast from Liao River to Min River area, which was extended to include the Guangdong on 12 February 1950. The Executive Yuan declared an emergency measure on domestic vessels, crews and owner companies to strengthen the traffic ban on China on 16 August 1950, however the Kuomintang government extended the privateering on the foreign vessels regardless even in the international waters.
New York Times reported that 67 foreign civilian ships were intercepted between September 1949 and October 1954, as half of them were British vessels - 141 interference incidents as per the Royal Navy escort reports. The Western Enterprise Incorporated (WEI) supported by the Central Intelligence Agency acted a strategic role in the operations. 
On 13 February 1951, a fleet of 3 ROCS destroyers under the direct order of ROC President Chiang Kai-shek captured the Norwegian civilian cargo ship Hoi Houw at "24°13'N 123°18'E" within the Japanese territory of Yaeyama Islands. On 17-19, February, British mercantile Nigelock (former HMS "Nigella" K19, Flower-class corvette) full of fruits and vegetables, and another freighter Josephine Moller were attacked by ROC Anti-Communist National Salvation Army (ACNSA) gunboats near Chekiang coast in the East China Sea, but both escaped. On 15 April 1951, the Panamanian civilian cargo ship Perico was captured by ROC Navy at "25°31'N 123°48'E", north of the Taketomi Island.
East Asian piracy activities intensified in the summer 1953 after Joseph Stalin's death and the Korean Armistice Agreement: On 26 July, the British freighter Inchkilda (former "SS Fort Wilhelmus" N3-S-A2) was attacked by 3 ROC-ACNSA gunboats south of the Wuqiu region, and rescued by HMS Unicorn (I72) light aircraft carrier after the distress call; then being intercepted by ROC Navy again on 24, October 1954, but received the UK and US diplomatic supports. On 16 August 1953, Nigelock was captured by ROC Navy to the Magong military port in Penghu but was rescued by HMS St Brides Bay (K600) frigate; then was intercepted again by ROCS Huangpu PC-105 (PC-461-class submarine chaser) and was rescued by HMS Cockade (R34) destroyer on 24 August. Italian civilian freighter Maribu was also attacked by gunbots on 31 July 1953, and Danish civilian freighter Heinrich Jessen on 9 August - both were hijacked to Kinmen then confiscated in Keelung. At 18:00, 4 October, 2 ROCS destroyers captured the Polish civilian oil tanker Praca with 9,019 tons of content at "21°06'N 122°48'E" in the West Pacific Ocean, 125 sea miles southeast of Taiwan. 29 Polish sailors and 17 Chinese sailors were transferred to the military detention center in Zuoying.
In early April, 1954, ROC Air Force and Navy conducted the carpet search for the Czech civilian cargo ship Julius Fueik, but failed to catch it in the Yaeyama sea area of the Pacific Ocean. At 14:20, 12 May, another Polish civilian cargo ship Prezydent Gottwald with 7,066 tons of lathes and medicines was bombarded by a fleet of 3 ROCS destroyers, at "20°30'N, 128°07'E", east of Batanes Islands and south of Okinawa Island, then was bombarded again at 15:20 to be captured at "23°45'N 128°35'E". 33 Polish sailors and 12 Chinese sailors were first detained in Keelung, then transferred to Zuoying together.
Tanker Praca was renamed as ROCS Helan (AOG-305, ) and Transport Prezydent Gottwald was renamed as ROCS Tianzhu (AK-313, ) to be included in the ROC Navy service. All 62 Polish sailors were released through Polish and United States diplomatic intervention, while 29 Chinese sailors were imprisoned in the Green Island Prison till 11 being rescued by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1956, 3 staff being executed, 1 died in prison; eventually 5 of the survivors were released to return China after the Martial Law lifted in 1987, 5 died in sickness and accidents, and 4 stayed in Taiwan afterwards.
Capture.
On 21 June 1954, the civilian tanker Tuapse with 49 Russian crew members, which started from Odessa and loaded over ten thousand tons of kerosene from Constanța in the Black Sea to Shanghai and Vladivostok, arrived in the Victoria Harbour of British Hong Kong to resupply. On 23 June upon passing through the international seaway of Balintang Channel in Bashi Straits eastbound toward the west Pacific Ocean. It was intercepted at near Philippines by the ROC fleet led by the Commander of ROC Navy, Admiral Ma Ji-zhuang () in charge on board of the Flagship Tan Yang DD-12 (acquired former Japanese Imperial Navy Yukikaze after WWII), with the approval of President Chiang Kai-shek to attack to sink the target if encountering resistance. 3 shells of 127 mm naval DP gun were fired near the bow to halt Tuapse, then an assault team led by Captain Chiu Zhong-ming (邱仲明上校, who also led the Gottwald Assault before) with over 100 seamen and marines boarded to took the ship by force. 3 sailors trying to save the ripped-off national flag were struck down by rifle butts. The ship with content was towed to the Port of Kaohsiung for further intelligence examination; and the crew including the only female bartender Olga Popov, were divided in 3 groups roughly by age to different locations for political warfare interrogation.
Tuapse's final distress signal before the radio station being silenced and damaged was transmitted through Vladivostok to Moscow and Odessa. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of USSR, V.A. Zorin, summoned the Ambassador of USA, Charles Bowley in Moscow on 24 June 1954 to deliver the strong protestation memorandum; the ROC Government admitted the operation on 25 June. The Black Sea Shipping Company continued to distribute the victims' wages to their families throughout the following years. 
Both Polish and Russian representatives to the United Nations denounced the conduct as piracy in the General Assembly, but the appeal to the International Court of Justice did not succeed. The Soviet task force of a destroyer and a frigate arrived offshore of Keelung Naval Base in early July, and the governments of Australia and New Zealand also expressed the concerns on ROC's actions providing USSR the pretext to strengthen naval forces' presence in the western Pacific Ocean. US Ambassador Karl L. Rankin in Taipei officially urged the release of ship and crew on 9 July, and visited the ROC Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Yeh in sick leave at home over night; Head of the Office of Chinese Affairs in USDOS, Walter P. McConaughy also discussed with ROC Ambassador Wellington Koo on 16 July, but none of them could change Chiang's mind. Particularly Chiang Ching-kuo as the Director of Political Warfare Bureau, attempted to acquire the sailors statements demanding the political asylum to produce the heroic Anti-Communist images for the psychological warfare effect in the Cold War; The First Lady, Soong Mei-ling led the representatives of Chinese Anti-Communist Women's League () to the persuasion visit; then bar visits and ladies were also offered along with videotaping for the propaganda purpose.
A declassified CIA briefing to the White House and United States National Security Council on 13 July revealed that the shipping insurance premium crossing the South China Sea had increased from 1% to 5% since 24 June after the Tuapse Incident, and certain international liners had been deterred midway at the Singapore Port unable to continue, or had to change plans. The PLA Air Force moved in the Hainan Island for the first time in history to secure another transport route through Yulin and Huangpu ports, but accidentally shot down a Douglas DC-4 (VR-HEU) airliner of the Cathay Pacific Airways with 10 death on 23 July. Two US aircraft carriers, USS Philippine Sea (CV-47) and USS Hornet (CV-12) arrived for a rescue mission on 26 July and shot down 2 PLAAF Lavochkin La-11 fighters east of Dazhou Island. On 2 August, Commander of PLA in CMC, Peng Dehuai convened the executive meeting to establish the tactical command for the East China Military Region as per Mao Zedong's directive to open another front.
The First Taiwan Strait Crisis started on 3 September 1954. On 8 September, the crew were informed the order of Chief of the General Staff, General Peng Meng-ji (, aka. "Kaoshiung Butcher" due to his brutality against civilians during the Feb. 28 Massacre and White Terror era) declaring that: "The Third World War has begun - the tanker and cargo have been confiscated, and the crew shall be considered as the prisoners of war." then they were mistreated with beating, starving rations and various tortures causing the hearing, vision, teeth and finger damages. Sailor L. Anfilov has no tooth left; N. Voronov tried to escape, but was seized and placed in a psychiatric facility with imitated execution; Engineer Ivan Pavlenko slashed his own throat with a blade to commit suicide, but did not die. 20 young Ukrainian, Russian and Moldovan sailors under the pressure signed the application for political asylum to the United States.
Tanker "Tuapse" was re-named as ROCS Kuaiji (AOG-306, ) to be included in the ROC Navy task with 22 commissioned officers and 88 enlisted rank seamen on 20 October 1955 to deliver the aviation fuel for ROCAF alongshore monthly. Taiwan Navigation Co., Ltd. tried to acquire this ship in 1960, but was declined subsequently due to her nature being a registered stolen vessel with the valid global legal claim to the IMO/IMB, hence could not enter the territorial waters of a third UN country, but stayed idle often in dock. She retired on 1 October 1965, and lay down permanently in the Kaohsiung Harbor.
Aftermath.
The Campaign of Yijiangshan sounded on 18 January 1955, followed by the Retreat of Dachen till 26 February, Kuomintang had lost the control on the East China Sea. US Secretary of State John F. Dulles arrived in Taiwan to meet President Chiang Kai-shek on 3 March as the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty came into force to secure the Taiwan Strait, and tried to persuade him to release the ship and the crew but Chiang still disagreed. The Soviet Government demanded the French Government to mediate the fate of the Tuapse crew. Another request was also made through the Swedish Red Cross. As a result of joint efforts, 29 crew members who did not sign the asylum application were released, including Captain Vitaly A. Kalinin. They arrived in Moscow by plane on July 30. Next day (31 July), People's Republic of China (PRC) returned 11 American servicemen on the USAF B-29 bomber, which was shot down above the Yalu River area in North Korea on 12 January 1953. One day later on 1 August, PRC ambassador to Poland, Wang Bingnan met US ambassador to Czechoslovakia, U. Alexis Johnson in Geneva, Switzerland to establish the first direct communication channel in history later known as the "Warsaw Talks" for diplomatic normalization, which Chiang strongly opposed.
Chief telegraphist Michael Ivankov-Nikolov, accountant Nikolay I. Vaganov, Valentin A. Lukashkov, Viktor M. Ryabenko, Alexander P. Shirin, Mikhail I. Shishin, Viktor S. Tatarnikov, Venedikt P. Eremenko and Viktor Solovyov left for the United States in October 1955; but in April 1956, Vaganov, Lukashkov, Ryabenko, Shirin and Shishin appeared at the Soviet Embassy and returned to the USSR. Vaganov was arrested in 1963 and sentenced by the Gorky Regional Court to 10 years in prison for treason. He served 7 years and was pardoned in 1970. In August 1992, the Presidium of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court recognized Vaganov as reasonably convicted, he was rehabilitated by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation eventually. Eremenko and Tatarnikov joined the US Army. Solovyov settled in New York. In 1959, the Odessa Regional Court sentenced in absentia the sailors who never returned USSR - Tatarnikov, Ivankov-Nikolov, Eremenko and Solovyov - to death for treason. After appearing in anti-Soviet speeches in Washington, D.C., Ivankov-Nikolov lost his mind and was handed over to the Soviet Embassy returning USSR in 1959; then was declared non-judicial due to mental illness and placed in a psychiatric hospital in Kazan, where he spent over 20 years.
Sailor L. F. Anfilov, Vladimir I. Benkovich, Pavel V. Gvozdik and N. V. Zibrov accepted an intelligence assignment to leave for Brazil with Polish passports by the end of 1957, then appeared at the Soviet Consulate in Uruguay to return USSR next year. However they were arrested after a press conference and sentenced to 15 years in prison for treason. Later they were reduced to 12 years, and further released with a pardon in 1963. They were rehabilitated in 1990.
Sailor Valentin I. Kniga, Vsevolod V. Lopatyuk, Vladimir A. Sablin and Boris Pisanov were sentenced to 10 years in prison in Taiwan by the trial in absentia of the ROC Court-martial as per the Martial Law. They spent 7 years in prison before being placed under the guarded house arrest in various quarters till lastly to the Yilan suburb, where a ROC Foreign Ministry official spoke on condition of anonymity that they requested political asylum in Taiwan and were treated as refugees. In 1970, Soviet journalist Victor Louis held several meetings with the Minister of ROC Government Information Office, James Wei in Vienna to achieve the agreement of releasing all the remaining crew members in ROC military custody, but this agreement was never realized, until when the reportage of «"Independence Evening Post"» and the aboriginal parliament member Tsai Chung-han advocated for their human rights after the Taiwan democratic reform with the Martial Law lifted in 1987. 
With the new amnesty policy on all political prisoners from the first Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui in 1988, they were finally free to leave with the assistance of the Soviet Consul in Singapore, A. I. Tkachenko, to go home after 34 years of captivity. The last crew cook Lopatyuk returned Ukraine in 1993 after a stroke.
Sailor Zhorka M. Dimov suffered from the continual beating and bleeding without medical care, then committed suicide in 1975; Mikhail M. Kalmazan died in sickness afterwards; Anatoly V. Kovalev died in a psychiatric facility. Their cadavers were not returned.
Over 100 years after its establishment in 1911, the Republic of China still doesn't have the Refugee Law today, yet the government has never rendered an apology nor legal compensation to the victim families or the victim countries.
Legacy.
The communication barriers against the Tuapse crew exposed the insufficiency of interpreters and translators in need, so Major-general Pu Dao-ming (), who was processing the case, reported for permission to found the first Russian language course in Taiwanese history for the Foreign Language School of MND in 1957, later extended into civilian societies on the East European cultural and linguistic education such as in the academies of NCCU, CCU, TKU and FHK today. Pu died in a surgery, before re-appealing to Chiang for the crew's release, on 24 May 1964.
The story of Tuapse was produced in the film "Ч. П. — Чрезвычайное происшествие" (E.A. — Extraordinary Accident) in 2 parts in 1958, directed by Viktor Ivchenko, and became the leading film distribution with 47.5 million viewers in USSR in 1959.
The ROC naval traffic blockade status ended on 12 September 1979; and the detention, confiscation and criminal penalty regulation on the transportation vessels, crews and maritime companies to China remained valid till being abolished on 15 January 1992.
In 1996, the Russian Government awarded a medal to each of the Tuapse survivors who were still alive. 
The Central Naval Museum in Saint Petersburg preserves a model of Tanker Tuapse.
In 2005, A marble plaque in memory of Tuapse and her crew was planted in front of the passenger terminal building of the Odessa Port in Ukraine, where her last journey with no return started 50 years ago.