Turkey is investigating origin of grain on a detained Russian ship

Turkey began an investigation of the origin of grain, which was transported by the Zhibek Zhola truck from the city of Berdyansk Zaporizhzhya Region of Ukraine, Bloomberg writes with reference to Turkish officials.

The dry cargo is anchored in the Turkish port of Karas, it was detained by local authorities. He did not moor and unloaded, waiting for Turkey to study the origin of grain and the course of the vessel.

According to one of the sources of Bloomberg, Turkey is careful about the situation, as it participates in organizing negotiations with the UN, Russia and Ukraine to export grain from Ukrainian ports. The interlocutor of the agency noted that negotiations may take place next week.

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.