BEIRUT: The latest in a line of disputed cargoes to arrive in the war-torn nation of Syria is a Russian cargo ship that is purportedly carrying grain that was stolen from Ukraine, according to the Kyiv embassy in Beirut on Thursday.
The embassy sent a statement saying, “According to our information, sv konstantin has docked in Syria.”It added that the ship was originally en route to the Lebanese port of Tripoli and that it was transporting “grains that were seized and unlawfully transferred by the Russian occupation authority.”
Since the invasion of the country by Russian forces in late February, Ukraine has regularly accused them of looting its grain storage facilities.The announcement by the embassy came as another cargo ship, carrying the first consignment of grain authorised to leave Ukraine below a UN-backed agreement, is said to have unloaded its cargo at the Russian-owned port in Tartus, Syria.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni was supposed to arrive in Lebanon, but according to Ukrainian officials, the Lebanese buyer cancelled the transaction once the ship was already at sea because of the shipment’s five-month delay.
The ship docked at Tartus early this week, according to Samir Madani, co-founder of the oil tanker tracking website TankerTrackers.com.Madani tweeted on Thursday that it appeared from satellite photography that the ship, which was transporting 26,000 tonnes of corn, was unloading its cargo.
