Kazakhstan on detention of a Russian vessel with grain: “There should be no consequences for us”

There should be no consequences for Kazakhstan in connection with the detention of the Zhibek Zhola vessel, transporting grain from Berdyansk Ukraine, the Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairbek Uskenbaev believes.

“There should be no consequences for Kazakhstan, because Kazakhstan has never violated and never violates either international laws or the agreements that we have ratified,” KazTAG quotes it.

According to him, the Kazakh carrier legally leased this ship. “No restrictions on a Russian company that rents a ship, neither international nor any internal procedural documents. If the tenant of this vessel somehow violated the laws of any country, if it is official confirmed, our company will initiate His procedures to return this vessel, ”explained Uskenbaev.

He also added that the Kazakhstan side puts restrictions on the tenants, prohibiting any illegal transportation.

The detention of Zhibek Zhola became known on July 3. The ship could not go to the port of Sakarya due to the lack of necessary permissions. It walks under the Russian flag, but belongs to the Kazakhstan company KTZ Express Shipping. The company stated that since October it has an agreement with the Russian company “Green-Line” on the chartering of the vessel without a crew for a period until November 2022, RBC recalls. Ukraine asked to arrest the dry cargo transport, Ukraine, in Kyiv, believes that the ship is involved in the “illegal export of Ukrainian grain”. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office wrote the corresponding letter to the Ministry of Justice of Turkey, which indicated that about 7 thousand tons of wheat were loaded on board.