Russia conditions the departure of grain ships from Ukraine on maritime clearance
Russia today expressed its willingness to facilitate the departure of ships loaded with grain from Ukraine, but made their safety conditional on the demining of Ukrainian ports, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today during a visit to Bahrain.
"It is necessary for the Ukrainian representatives to clear the territorial waters. If the problem of demining is solved (...) the Russian Navy will ensure the unimpeded passage of these ships on the high seas to the Mediterranean Sea and other destinations," he said at a press conference in Manama, broadcast on Russian state television.
The head of Russian diplomacy said that Moscow has for "many weeks" been drawing the West's attention to the Ukrainian army's mining of the Black Sea to counter Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.
"The Russian side has been taking measures for more than a month, ensuring the free departure of Ukrainian grain on ships that are now in closed Ukrainian ports," he said.
Lavrov said that all proposals aimed at unblocking the sea blockade should be implemented "taking into consideration that the Russian side has long since guaranteed everything that depends on us".
The head of Russian diplomacy assured that the West has "created a lot of artificial problems with the closure of its ports to Russian ships, with the disruption of logistical and financial chains".
He called on the countries that have imposed these sanctions on Russia to "think seriously about what is more important for them, whether to propagandise on the basis of food security or to solve this problem by taking concrete steps".
The day before Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed Moscow's readiness "to facilitate unimpeded maritime transit of goods" to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, specifying that this "also applies to the export of grain from Ukrainian ports".
Putin called for ensuring safe navigation in the Black and Azov Seas and the need to eliminate the threat of mines in their waters.
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky on Monday accused Russia of using the people of Asia and Africa as a "bargaining chip" by blocking grain exports from Ukraine, which has 22 million tonnes of grain in its warehouses.
According to the president, "Russian invaders have already stolen at least half a million tonnes of grain and are now looking for ways to sell it illegally somewhere. To sell it in order to make money on the stolen grain and maintain the deficit on the legal market".
