Ukraine says Russia ‘systematically’ delays inspection of vessels passing through Istanbul Strait

Ukraine said Wednesday that Russia is "systematically" delaying the inspection of vessels that are headed through the Istanbul Strait to and from Ukrainian ports.

"Besides that, Russian inspectors intentionally slow down the terms of inspections. They often demand unregulated documentation, refuse to work during working hours, and look for other groundless reasons to stop the inspection," said a statement by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.

The statement said Ukraine is deeply concerned about "the destructive actions of the Russian Federation" which have resulted in the delay of the work of the Black Sea grain corridor.

"Such a destructive Russian policy has resulted in a systematic decrease of the freight turnover within the grain Initiative. Only during the last three months the world received less than 10 million tons of Ukrainian food and this negative trend is gaining momentum," it said.

Noting that a queue of more than 140 vessels has formed on the Istanbul Strait, it said only half of the planned 10 inspections take place daily.

"The food security of countries that depend on the export of Ukrainian agricultural products is under threat. First of all, due to Russia's actions, the countries of the Global South, in particular Africa and Asia, have food shortages," according to the statement.

It claimed that Russia is using the opportunity of unobstructed shipping from Russian Black Sea ports by "ruining the port infrastructure of Ukraine, creating security risks for Southern regions of Ukraine from the Black Sea, and interfering in the work of the Black Sea grain corridor."

"Inspections of these (Russian) vessels in the Bosphorus (Istanbul Strait) are not held. All that makes it possible for Russia to use its commercial vessels for receiving military goods in order to continue the war against Ukraine," it said.

"We call on the international community, in particular the UN and Türkiye as guarantors of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, to demand from the Russian Federation to stop immediately the delays in the work of the Black Sea grain corridor, to stop Russia's attempts to use food as a weapon and to unblock commercial navigation to the Ukrainian Black Sea ports," it added.

Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul last July to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February.

More than 18 million tons of grain have been carried out via the Black Sea grain corridor under the Black Sea Grain Initiative which Türkiye helped broker in a bid to avert a potential food crisis amid the war.