The Russian Federation will ignore inspections of vessels bound for the Pivdennyi port

The Russian side of the SCC will check ships bound for the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk, but will “ignore” the Pivdennyi port.

“As of the morning of May 19, it became known that Russia agreed to resume inspections of the incoming fleet to the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk, but refused to inspect vessels heading to the port of Pivdenny,” said Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Yurii Vaskov, writes Interfax-Ukraine .

According to him, the stoppage of inspections of vessels entering Ukrainian ports within the framework of the Grain Agreement from May 7 was due to the position of the Russian delegation in the Joint Coordination Center (JCC).

Currently, 62 vessels are in the queue for inspection, some of them for several months.

The deputy minister added that after the DSM Capella vessel under the Barbados flag left the port of Chornomorsk for Turkey on May 17 with 30,000 tons of corn, there is no other vessel participating in the initiative in Ukrainian ports yet.

Yurii Vaskov emphasized that Russia’s goal is to limit the work of the Grain Agreement. Such actions lead to a significant increase in the cost of logistics and an increase in the prices of its components: insurance, freight, etc.

“With the normal functioning of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Ukraine is ready to export 6 million tons of agricultural products per month from three ports. However, since November, Russia has been finding new reasons to limit exports and suspend the agreement. As a result, from the beginning of May to May 17, less than 1 million tons were exported, and in April – 2.7 million tons,” the deputy minister recalled.

As previously reported by USM, according to Ukraine, the UN and Turkey, the agreement was simply unblocked and not extended. Because on March 17, its effect was extended for 120 days, and not for 60, as Russia claimed.