Shtandart is not allowed to participate in the festival in Brest. This is the decision of the prefect of the Finistere district, and the crew received this information when we were already on the way to Brest.
Why?
The European Commission has changed the sanctions for sea vessels to include replicas of historical ships. Based on this, the prefect of the province of Finistere banned the entry of the sailing ship Shtandart to Brest.
We immediately reached out to our friends, sharing the information with as many people as possible.
We are eternally grateful for the immediate response, for the words of support, for the petition to the European Consul, which has already received more than 2000 signatures (support the Shtandart and leave your signature – https://www.change.org/p/help-preserve-the-piece-of-world-s-cultural-heritage-frigate-shtandart)
We filed a lawsuit asking for the cancellation of this decision. Last 15 years Shtandart has been sailing only in Europe. When demanded by french authorities, the ship changed the flag and received registration in the Cook Islands. Despite this, the court’s decision was negative.
We are especially grateful to our friends from the Belem and other sailing ships, who showed their support and proposed to sail towards Brest together. If not all the way to the port, then at least part of the way.
It was very valuable for us and gave us very strong emotions. To be together with other sailing ships at this difficult time, to see their support, to hear the greetings of other crews and the bells and signal horns of ships and small boats. And at the same time we received a lot of messages, letters, comments and posts of support.
We organised an information meeting on July 16, which was attended by about 80 people – crews of other ships and journalists, and our opponents.
Here are media publications about how this meeting went:
Thank you!
We still need your help:
Shtandart is looking for trainees who will be ready for changes in our routes.
We need the help of lawyers to appeal the decisions of the European Commission. We need help in France to write letters and explain the situation to journalists.
Share our petition with as many people as possible – https://www.change.org/p/help-preserve-the-piece-of-world-s-cultural-heritage-frigate-shtandart.
Thank you!
Links:
Petition – https://www.change.org/p/help-preserve-the-piece-of-world-s-cultural-heritage-frigate-shtandart.
Open letter to the European Council
Video – Frigate Shtandart is coming to Brest
Video – 1.5-minutes about Shtandart
The Shtandart is a replica of an 18th-century Russian frigate, a training ship financed mostly by the festivals it has attended throughout Europe for 25 years, to the delight of visitors and its sailors. Simply because the ship was built in Russia, we are now the target of a campaign to ban it from all festivals, which amounts to destroying it.
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