The Russians decided to include the seaports of temporarily occupied Berdyansk and Mariupol in the list of their ports open to foreign ships.
This was reported by the Center for Transport Strategies (CTS).
The corresponding decree was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on August 25. The Central Transport and Communications Service emphasizes that this will allow the occupiers to more actively export stolen products from Donbas and the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region. In particular, this concerns Ukrainian grain, metal, and coal.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemned Russiaʼs decision, calling it "worthless". It is seen as an attempt to legalize the occupation and consolidate illegal control over Ukrainian territories.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the actions of the Russian Federation are a gross violation of international law, in particular the UN Charter, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly.
Ukraine called on partners to impose additional sanctions against Russian companies, foreign legal entities, and vessels that will carry out commercial activities in the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol.
Kyiv also appealed to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) with a demand to urgently remind member states of the need to comply with resolution A.1183 (33), which calls for avoiding visits to closed seaports in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian department emphasized that the international community must respond with adequate sanctions against Russian ports involved in the functioning of the Russian military machine.
- In September 2024, The Wall Street Journal wrote that Russia sold stolen grain from the occupied territories of Ukraine for almost a billion dollars.
- It later became known that the Danish surveying services company Baltic Control helped the Russians export stolen grain from occupied Berdyansk.
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