The Russian Federation resumed the registration of the incoming fleet as part of the Grain Agreement, but with violations

The Russians resumed the registration of the incoming fleet in violation of the established algorithm for the registration and inspection of vessels within the “grain corridor”.

On June 4, the Russian side registered 2 incoming vessels, which were declared to participate in the Grain Initiative on the same day. This is contrary to the accepted rules for inspecting ships, which stipulate that those that have been waiting for the longest time are inspected first, the Ministry of Reconstruction said.

Thus, the Russians ignored the need to inspect 56 ships that have been waiting for a long time (some of them for more than 3 months) in the territorial waters of Turkey to enter Ukrainian ports.

Registration of the incoming fleet by the Russian side in the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) is limited, and the logic of selecting vessels for registration is unclear and opaque. The Russian side does not specify any criteria regarding the number and order of selection of vessels for registration, actually choosing vessels for inspection at its own discretion. This makes work planning as difficult as possible for all participants of the Grain Initiative.

Currently, 67 ships are waiting for inspection in the territorial waters of Turkey, of which 58 are going to be loaded in Ukrainian ports, and 9 are already loaded with food.

For more than a month, Russia has continued to block ships to the port “Pivdennyi”, which grossly violates the terms of the Grain Initiative. Over the past week, only 8 ships with 400,000 tons of food were sent from the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk.

Read also: Solsky: Ukraine is ready to continue the Grain Initiative without Russia