Russia agrees to resume inspections of vessels heading to Odesa and Chornomorsk – Ministry of Infrastructure
The ship is transporting Ukrainian food within the grain agreement (Photo:Oleksandr Kubrakov/Facebook)
Russia has agreed to reinstate inspections of vessels bound for Odesa and Chornomorsk under the “grain initiative” as of the morning of May 19, though it refused to inspect ships heading to the port of Pivdenny, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Yuriy Vaskov, reported on May 19.
The resumption of inspections by Russia comes after the announcement of the extension of the Black Sea Grain Corridor agreement.
On May 17, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that the agreement had been extended for another two months.
According to Erdogan, the Russian side has pledged not to hinder the departure of Turkish vessels from the ports of Mykolaiv and Olvia.
On April 24, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of “violating” its obligations under the grain agreement due to a drone attack allegedly launched from the waters of the Odessa port in the occupied city of Sevastopol. The Russian side, which has repeatedly attempted to sabotage the agreement, announced a “threat of further extension of the agreement after May 18.”
Responding to these allegations, spokesperson for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense Andriy Yusov emphasized that the events in occupied Crimea were exclusively related to military facilities.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, has appealed to the United Nations, calling for efforts to restore the operation of the grain agreement.
The grain agreement was signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022, with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Turkey, and Russia. It aimed to establish a corridor for grain exports from three Ukrainian ports (Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdenny) and remove barriers on the export of Russian food and fertilizers.
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