The inspection of cargo ships carrying grain from Ukraine will continue “today and tomorrow” in Istanbul, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Sunday, after Russia suspended its participation in the agreement signed on July 22 in Turkey, AFP reports.

“Today and tomorrow, it is planned to continue the inspection of ships loaded with grain, which are waiting in Istanbul,” the press release of the ministry says.

These ships, which are waiting in the Black Sea, and their number, according to Ukraine, is 176, will be checked, but for now no other ship will leave Ukrainian ports, the Turkish Ministry of Defense notes.

He confirmed that Ankara had meanwhile been informed by Moscow of its decision to suspend participation in the agreement, which ensures the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea. Russian employees of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC), responsible for overseeing the agreement, are still in Istanbul, the Turkish agency notes.

After launching its invasion of Ukraine in February, Russia blockaded Ukrainian ports, thus depriving Kyiv of revenue from grain exports and making it difficult for countries in Africa and the Middle East to access these products.

Mediated by Turkey and the United Nations, Moscow and Kyiv agreed to a deal in July that lifted the blockade after Russia received assurances that, through inspections by the JCC in Istanbul, ships meant to transport grain would not serve as a means of delivery of Western weapons to Ukraine.

Since then, Russia has voiced its displeasure at the failure to implement a component of the deal that would have eased some Western sanctions, allowing Moscow to resume grain and fertilizer exports, and has threatened to withdraw from the deal. .

Russia finally announced the suspension of its participation in the deal on Saturday, citing an attack by Ukrainian drones on Russian warships in the port of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea, an attack not recognized by Kyiv, which accuses Moscow of creating a pretext for and justifying its withdrawal from the treaty.

On Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry released a statement saying it had identified and investigated the wreckage of the drones used in the early Saturday morning attack on a Russian Black Sea Fleet ship in the port of Sevastopol, claiming the drones were launched by Ukrainian military forces from the Odesa region. .and flew along a safe sea corridor for the export of Ukrainian grain before changing direction to the port of Crimea.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decided on Sunday to postpone his trip to the Arab League summit in Algiers for one day in order to conduct contacts aimed at bringing Russia back into the agreement.

Source: Agerpres