Ukraine accused the aggressor country Russia of grossly violating the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Russian inspectors refuse to inspect ships bound for the Pivdennyi Port in the Odesa Region.
This follows from a statement by Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Yurii Vaskov in a comment for Reuters.
"They found an effective way to significantly reduce the export of grain from Ukraine by excluding from the initiative the Pivdennyi Port, which serves multi-ton vessels," the agency quotes Vaskov as saying.
He reminded that all vessels heading to or from Ukrainian ports are subject to inspection by a group of inspectors from Ukraine, Turkiye, the UN, and Russia.
According to Vaskov, Russian inspectors, for some unknown reason, refuse to inspect ships that go specifically to Pivdennyi Port. This has been happening since April 29.
On the night of May 23-24, the U.S. Department of State also announced that Russia is not fulfilling its obligations under the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
"The parties agreed to ensure the unhindered export of Ukrainian grain from three ports. Now Russia refuses to allow ships into one of them," U.S. Department of State representative Matthew Miller said.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on May 17, the Bloomberg agency reported with reference to its own sources that Russia agreed to continue the Black Sea grain initiative.
Later, the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov, officially confirmed this information. According to him, the grain agreement will be valid at least until July 18, 2023.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.