Turkish customs have detained a Russian cargo ship carrying grain which Ukraine says is stolen, Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey said on Sunday.
Ukraine had previously asked Turkey to detain the Russian-flagged Zhibek Zholy cargo ship, according to an official and documents viewed by Reuters.
Reuters reporters saw the Zhibek Zholy anchored about 1km from shore and outside of the Karasu port on Sunday, with no obvious signs of movement aboard or by other vessels nearby.
“We have full cooperation. The ship is currently standing at the entrance to the port, it has been detained by the customs authorities of Turkey,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar said on Ukrainian national television.
Bodnar said the ship’s fate would be decided by a meeting of investigators yesterday and that Ukraine was hoping for the confiscation of the grain.
Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing grain from the territories that Russian forces have seized since Moscow’s invasion began on Feb. 24.
The Kremlin has previously denied that Russia has stolen any Ukrainian grain.
A Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, citing information from Ukraine’s maritime administration, on Friday said that the Zhibek Zholy had loaded about 4,500 tonnes of Ukrainian grain from Berdyansk, a Russian-occupied port in south Ukraine.
The region’s Sakarya port authority was not immediately available for comment. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
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