Turkey stops Russian grain carrier

Enlarge image

Freighter Zhibek Zholy on July 2 near the Black Sea port of Karasu

Photo: YORUK ISIK / REUTERS

According to the operator, Turkey has stopped a Russian-flagged ship carrying grain at the Black Sea port of Karasu.

Customs initially refused the freighter "Zhibek Zholy" in front of the Turkish Black Sea city, said a person responsible for the port company IC Ictas at the request of the dpa news agency.

The Ukrainian ambassador to Turkey, Wassyl Bondar, said on Ukrainian television the day before that the further fate of the ship would be decided on Monday.

Ukraine hopes the ship will be impounded and the cargo confiscated.

According to the Marinetraffic platform, the freighter came from the Russian coastal city of Novorossiysk.

However, the Russian-appointed head of the occupied southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia, Yevgeny Balizki, wrote to the Telegram news service that the freighter left the port of Berdyansk last Thursday.

Ukraine suspects export of stolen goods

Ukraine suspects that Russia is illegally exporting stolen grain and has therefore asked Turkish authorities to investigate the freighter.

According to a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv, the ship had left Berdyansk with 4,500 tons of grain on board.

In a letter from the Attorney General dated June 30 to the Ministry of Justice in Kyiv, there is even talk of 7,000 tons of grain.

The international community has been demanding that Russia allow the export of Ukrainian grain for weeks.

Ukraine complains that its ports in the Black Sea are blocked by the Russian Navy. 

Ukraine exported more grain last year

Despite the Russian war of aggression, Ukraine exported eight percent more grain and legumes in the 2021/22 marketing year that ended at the end of June than in the previous year.

The Ministry of Agriculture in Kyiv announced on Friday that 48.5 million tons had been exported after 44.7 million tons in the same period last year.

In the war month of June, however, exports were 44 percent below the previous year's value at 1.4 million tons due to the failure of sea exports.

Russia and Ukraine are among the largest wheat exporters and play an important role in world food security.

The United Nations recently warned of the worst famine in decades.

fek/dpa/Reuters