The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine accused Russia of disrupting the “grain agreement”

Ukraine accuses Russia of disrupting the "grain agreement". The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry notes that Russian inspectors in Istanbul systematically and deliberately slow down the process of inspecting ships, which leads to significant delays in deliveries.

This is stated in a statement on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

"Representatives of the Russian Federation as part of the inspection groups at the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul have been systematically delaying the inspection of ships going through the Bosphorus to/from Ukrainian ports for several months in a row. In particular, Russian inspectors deliberately slow down the terms of inspections, regularly demand unregulated documentation, refuse to work during working hours and look for other unjustified reasons to stop inspections. Less than half of the planned 10 inspections usually take place every day," the message reads.

Due to such actions of the inspectors, the cargo turnover within the framework of the "grain agreement" has seriously decreased. Over the past three months, the world has not received 10 million tons of Ukrainian food.

Now there is a queue of more than 140 ships in the Bosphorus Strait. Most of them have been there for over a month. Meanwhile, the Russians, slowing down the work of Ukrainian ports, continue to use their Black Sea ports unimpeded and increase the volume of transportation. Their ships do not pass any inspections.

• On July 22, Russia signed an agreement on unblocking the export of Ukrainian grain from the ports of Odesa, Pivdennyi, and Chornomorsk. Russia and Ukraine signed the agreement separately — each with the UN and Turkey. There are no signatures of Ukraine and Russia on the same document. At the beginning of August, the first caravan of ships left the ports of Odesa.
• On October 29, Russia informed about its withdrawal from the "grain agreement". She cited the attack of drones on a ship of the Black Sea Fleet in the Sevastopol Bay as the reason. Already on November 2, Russia changed its mind and returned to the "grain agreement", and on November 17, the agreement was officially extended for another four months.