Ukraine’s Yuzhny port has ceased operations because Russia is not allowing ships to enter it, violating an agreement guaranteeing the safety of grain exports, Ukraine’s Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov said on Tuesday.
Recall that the Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed by Ukraine and Russia in July last year and extended last week for two months, is designed to ensure the security of grain and food exports in wartime from three Ukrainian ports – Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny.
The UN, which brokered and extended the deal with Turkey, expressed concern on Monday that the port of Yuzhny, near Odessa on the Black Sea, had not received a single ship as part of the agreement since May 2.
“Officially, the port of Yuzhny is included in (the scope of) the initiative, but in fact it has not been used for a month. It has no ships coming in,” Vaskov told Reuters in a written comment. “Now they (Russia) have found an effective way to drastically reduce (Ukrainian) grain exports by excluding the port of Yuzhny, which serves high-capacity vessels, from the initiative.”
Vaskov called this step a flagrant violation of the agreement.
According to the agreement, all ships bound for Ukrainian ports must be inspected by a joint team including Russian inspectors. According to Vaskov, since April 29, Russian inspectors have refused to inspect ships heading to the port of Yuzhny.
Yuzhny is the largest port included in the initiative in terms of throughput. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Food, it stores about 1.5 million tons of food products for export to 10 countries, for which 26 ships are expected to come.
Vaskov said the inspection plan, presented on Tuesday, showed Russia only included three of the 13 vessels declared. According to him, all ships bound for Yuzhny were excluded, as well as some ships supposed to go to Odessa and Chernomorsk.
According to Ukrainian officials, between May 19 and May 21, the Russian side inspected only nine ships.
“The Grain Initiative has been officially unlocked (extended), but it’s not working as it should. Russia continues to slow it down as much as possible,” Vaskov said. Vaskov told Reuters last week that 62 ships were ready for inspection, some of which have been on hold for months.
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