Russia may use sea mines to target civilian vessels in the Black Sea, including by placing them near Ukrainian ports, the British government said on Wednesday, citing intelligence services, Reuters reported.

In July, Russia canceled an agreement that allowed Ukraine to safely transport food through traditionally the main export corridor.

Ukraine responded by creating a temporary “humanitarian corridor” for cargo ships, and since then more ships have left Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

Britain said it believed Russia was trying to attack civilian vessels passing through the humanitarian corridor to curb Ukrainian grain exports.

“Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead it will falsely accuse Ukraine of any attack on civilian ships in the Black Sea,” the British Foreign Office said in a statement.

“By publishing our assessment of this information, Great Britain seeks to expose Russia’s tactics to prevent such an incident,” the statement said.

Last month, Britain accused Russia of targeting a civilian cargo ship in a Black Sea port on August 24 in a missile attack that was successfully repelled by Ukrainian forces.

The UK has said it is working with Ukraine and other partners to implement measures to improve navigational security, and is using its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to monitor Russian activities in the Black Sea.

Read also:

• Greece offers a new alternative corridor for the export of Ukrainian grain, which would pass through Romania