Ukraine asks Israel to seize vessel it says is carrying grain stolen by Russia
By Yuliia Dysa
KYIV, April 29 (Reuters) – Ukraine has asked Russia to seize a ship carrying grain it claims was stolen from Russian-occupied territories, Ukraine’s attorney general said on Wednesday, amid diplomatic wrangling between the two countries over the shipment.
Ukraine and Israel traded accusations on Tuesday, with Ukraine repeatedly saying it had called on Israel to take action regarding the ship through diplomatic channels. Israel accused Kiev of “Twitter diplomacy”.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said in the Telegram application that the Panormitis ship went to the Israeli port of Haifa with grain, “some of which was shipped” from the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. He said the grain was previously loaded from another ship.
“The Ukrainian side asks its Israeli partners to seize the ship and its cargo, conduct searches, seize ship and cargo documents, take grain samples and interrogate the crew,” Kravchenko said. he said.
An official from the ship’s Greece-based management company, Royal Maritime Inc, denied that the Panormitis was carrying any grain from occupied Ukraine.
“All the legal documents we have, including the cargo’s certificate of origin, show that the cargo is Russian,” the official told Reuters.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who previously said Ukraine had not provided any evidence of its claims, wrote on X on Wednesday that Kiev submitted its request to seize the ship late Tuesday.
“One would expect a legal request to be made before tweeting. You made a different choice for your own reasons,” he wrote. “The request is currently being reviewed by the relevant authorities.”
CONTROVERSIAL GRAIN SHIPMENTS BAD DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
Kiev has repeatedly protested grain exports from eastern Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia since its full-scale invasion in 2022 and from Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy threatened sanctions against those trying to profit from the shipment, and Kiev summoned Israel’s ambassador over what it described as Israeli inaction.
Moscow has not commented on the legal status of grain collected in occupied territories, and the Kremlin refused to comment on Panormitis on Tuesday, saying Russia would not be involved.
The EU said on Tuesday it had approached Israel about a “Russian shadow fleet ship” carrying stolen grain and was ready to impose sanctions on individuals and organizations in third countries that help finance Russia’s war effort.
Kravchenko said that since Russia’s invasion, more than 1.7 million tons of agricultural products worth 20 billion hryvnia ($453.67 million) have been illegally transferred from the occupied territories. Reuters could not immediately confirm the data.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it had been contacting Israel since March about a different ship, the Abinsk, which it said was also carrying stolen grain. It was stated that despite Kiev’s requests, the ship was allowed to be evacuated and leave Israel.
“We expect the Israeli side to take the issue seriously, rather than responding with emotional statements,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote to X on Wednesday. he said.
($1 = 44.0852 hryvnia)
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Additional reporting by Alexander Cornwell in Jerusalem and Renee Maltezou in Athens; Editing by Ros Russell and Joe Bavier)
