Turkey has received a request from Ukrainian authorities to seize a ship operating under a Panamanian flag and carrying 19,000 tons of barley that had been allegedly stolen from the regions in Ukraine which are currently being controlled by Russia
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2023) Turkey has received a request from Ukrainian authorities to seize a ship operating under a Panamanian flag and carrying 19,000 tons of barley that had been allegedly stolen from the regions in Ukraine which are currently being controlled by Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing correspondence.
Prosecutors in Kiev claim that the cargo was loaded on the Panama-flagged Bomustafa O ship at a port in Crimea and arrived in the Turkish port of Samsun on the Black Sea on Monday, the report said.
A few days before the ship docked at the port, Ukrainian authorities asked their Turkish counterparts to arrest the ship, take samples of the grain, and question its captain and crew, according to the report.
According to the report, Ukraine's prosecutor general wrote to Turkish officials about the Bomustafa O shipment on April 12 and described the shipment of barley as "illegally exported" from occupied Ukrainian territory.
The prosecutors refer to an alleged Ukrainian investigation, according to which the ship, which is managed and owned by two companies in the United Arab Emirates, carries grain that it received from other ships during its stay in the Kerch Strait off the coast of Crimea, the report said.
The news comes at a moment when the parties to the grain deal - Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN - are preparing to discuss whether to extend the agreement after the current 60-day extension period ends on May 18.
Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN reached an agreement on July 22, 2022, to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships carrying food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. On March 18, Russia agreed to extend the deal for two more months.�
