Russia again blocked operation of "grain corridor"
On April 17, Russia for the second time blocked ship inspections in Turkish territorial waters.
This was reported by the Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine, Censor.NET informs.
"Since April 10, the Russian side in the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul has unilaterally stopped the registration of vessels submitted by Ukrainian ports for the formation of an inspection plan. Instead, the Russians are forming their own inspection plan, choosing vessels from the queue at their discretion, which is completely contradicts the terms of the Initiative and is unacceptable for Ukraine. As a result, for the second time in the 9 months of work of the "Grain Initiative", no inspection plan has been drawn up and not a single vessel has been inspected. This puts the functioning of the "Grain Initiative" at risk, the message says.
Since November 2022, the Russians have been sabotaging and delaying inspections under various pretexts, which has already led to a reduction in the volume of exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to world markets by 15-18 million tons.
Since April 2023, Russian representatives of the SCC are trying to interfere in the activities of Ukrainian ports and exporters by imposing their own criteria for determining specific vessels that will participate in the Initiative. For example, since April 14, the Russians, without any explanation, have refused to register three ships (2 of which are destined for China), for which cargo is already waiting in the "South" port.
The ministry believes that in this way the Russian side is trying to establish control over the number of the loaded fleet and the directions of its work, which is a violation of international norms and provisions of the "grain initiative".
"This is another attempt to dictate one's policy to the whole world, endanger food security and use food as a weapon. Ukraine categorically rejects the next demands of the Russians and opposes interference in the activities of Ukrainian ports," the department emphasizes.
