Kyiv's ambassador to Ankara on Friday said that Turkish buyers were among those receiving grain that Russia has stolen from Ukraine, adding that he has already sought Turkey's assistance in identifying and capturing individuals responsible for stealing the shipments.
Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of the total global supply of wheat while the former also heavily exports fertilizer and the latter corn and sunflower oil. However, Ukrainian grain shipments from its Black Sea ports have stalled since Moscow's invasion, with some 20 million tons of grain stuck in the waters.
Stolen Ukrainian Grain
In a statement, Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar said that Russia was shipping the stolen grains out of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, adding that Kyiv was working together with Turkey and Interpol to find the criminals responsible.
While in Ankara, Bodnar said that Russia was shamelessly stealing Ukrainian grains and getting them out of the invaded Crimea. He noted that the products were supposed to be shipped to other foreign countries, including Turkey, as per Reuters.
Bodnar said that they have already made their appeal for Turkey's assistance and upon their suggestion, are launching criminal cases regarding the parties stealing and selling the grains illegally. The Ukrainian Embassy later added that the vessels that were involved in the stolen grain shipments were the Nadezhda, Finikia, Sormivskiy, Vera, and Mikhail Nenashev ships.
The Ukrainian embassy in Beirut, on the other hand, said that this week, Russia had sent its ally Syria some 100,000 tons of stolen wheat. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has fueled a global food crisis, prompting the United Nations to pitch the plan to reopen shipping routes from Odesa and other Ukrainian ports.
According to Newsweek, on Friday, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Sergei Lavrov would meet his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on June 8. The meeting will be held in Ankara and will include discussions that will focus on the situation in Ukraine as well as "prospects for stepping up bilateral cooperation."
Russia-Ukraine War
Turkey is a crucial player in the war between the two European nations and President Tayyip Erdogan has criticized Russia's invasion and has opted to supply Kyiv with unmanned Bayraktar TB2 combat drones and other weapons.
Meanwhile, Turkey has also opposed the NATO membership applications of Finland and Sweden, whose inclusion in the Western military alliance requires the backing of all members. Ukraine has also repeatedly claimed that Russia has stolen large quantities of grain rice since the start of the unprovoked war, which entered its 100th day on Friday.
Ukraine's first deputy minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Taras Vysotskyi, this week said that Russia had stolen almost half a million tons of grain that had been illegally exported from the country. The official noted there was evidence that the grain had been taken from "all the temporarily occupied regions."
Putin's special envoy for the Middle East and Africa and deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, said, "We will have very important contacts and negotiations. Lavrov will go there to meet with them. There will be a military component, our colleagues from the Defense Ministry, I think all these issues will be discussed and clarified," News.am reported.
Related Article: Volodymyr Zelensky Confesses Harsh Reality of War as Russia Takes 20% of Ukraine