ISTANBUL, July 6 (R) – Ukraine has asked Turkey to help investigate three Russian-flagged ships as part of Kiev’s effort to investigate alleged grain theft from Russian-held territories, official documents show .
In a letter dated June 13, not yet reported, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office called on Turkey’s Justice Ministry to investigate and provide evidence on the three named ships it believes were involved in the transport of grain, allegedly stolen from recently occupied Ukrainian territories, such as Kherson.
The letter, verified by R, said the ships departed from Crimea’s main grain terminal in Sevastopol in April and May, urging Ankara to obtain documentation on their cargo and arrivals at Turkish ports. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
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All three major dry bulk carriers – Mikhail Nenashev, Matros Pozynich and Matros Koshka – are owned by a subsidiary of a Western-sanctioned Russian state-owned company called United Shipbuilding Corporation, according to Equasis, a shipping database. The Russian company did not respond to a request for comment.
If the United Shipbuilding Corporation is found to have been transporting grain from recently occupied Ukrainian territory, it would add new evidence of Russian state-owned companies’ involvement in the export of allegedly stolen goods from Kyiv. Ukraine has publicly accused Moscow of stealing grain since the February invasion; Russia has repeatedly denied stealing Ukrainian grain.
The conflict in Ukraine has increased concerns about food security both in Ukraine and around the world, driving global food prices to record levels this year. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, but is struggling to export goods as war rages on its southern coast and many of its ports are blocked. According to official figures, grain accounts for almost a fifth of all exports from the country.
R was unable to determine the origin or final destination of the grain in the vessels named by Kyiv in the letter.
The Kremlin did not respond to requests for comment. Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-installed Kherson administration, said that grain from the region is being shipped to Crimea and that local farmers are responsible for transporting it there. He said he was not aware of any deliveries to Turkey or the Middle East.
R reported Friday that in a separate letter dated June 30, Kyiv asked Turkey’s Justice Ministry to detain and arrest another Russian-flagged ship allegedly transporting Ukrainian grain from the occupied port of Berdyansk. On Monday, a senior Turkish official said Turkey had stopped the cargo ship and was investigating Ukraine’s claim. Continue reading
NATO member Turkey, which has good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv, has criticized the invasion but also dismissed Western sanctions against Russia. Ankara has agreed with Ukraine to block commercial shipments between Crimea and Turkey since 2014.
At the same time, Turkey has played a key role in talks between the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine over a possible Black Sea corridor for grain exports from Ukraine.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry declined to comment on the two letters from Kyiv, citing recent comments from Turkey’s Foreign Ministry that it had investigated and found Ukraine’s public claims that grain stolen from Russia had entered Turkey that there is no problem.
“We saw in the records that the ships’ port of departure and the goods’ origin is Russia,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters on June 23, without naming the ships. “We are opposed to Ukrainian grain or other goods being taken by Russia … and we will not allow those goods to come to us.” Turkey arrived.
A Turkish diplomatic source added that Kyiv has shared its claims with Ankara about allegedly stolen grain brought to Turkey via Russian ships and that cooperation with Ukrainian officials is ongoing.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office did not respond to requests for comment. Taras Vysotskiy, Ukraine’s first deputy minister of agriculture, told R Kyiv estimates about 400,000 tons of stolen grain were exported. Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar told R. Ukraine believes most of it went to Turkey, and Kyiv has provided Turkish authorities with evidence of the involvement of 13 ships.
The June 13 letter said at least two of the ships turned off tracking systems that were openly transmitting before entering the port of Sevastopol.
It also said Kyiv suspected that grain was being taken from recently occupied areas, particularly Kherson, where there were several grain silos that owners have no access to due to the occupation. The owners have not been identified. Kyiv added in the letter that it is investigating criminal violations of Ukraine’s rules and customs of war, without naming individuals.
Ukraine’s embassy in Beirut told R that at least seven companies that own storage units in newly occupied territories have filed criminal cases with Ukrainian authorities alleging that Russia stole their wheat. Two of the companies, Ukrlandfarming and State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, confirmed to R that they had submitted a document to Ukrainian authorities, but declined to give details. The others did not respond to requests for comment.
Ukraine has also said Russia sent its ally Syria wheat allegedly stolen from Ukraine since February’s invasion. The Ukrainian embassy in Beirut told R that at least 150,000 tons of allegedly “stolen” wheat had entered Syria since February, mostly on Russian ships, without specifying how it knew.
Neither the Syrian Ports Authority, which is part of the Ministry of Transport, nor the Syrian Ministry of Information responded to requests for comment.
TURKISH TRAVEL
One of the Kyiv ships named in the June 13 letter, the 169-meter-long Mikhail Nenashev, was at the Avlita grain terminal in Sevastopol from June 14-16, according to satellite images acquired by Planet Labs PBC, a private satellite operator Ship were docked next to grain elevators with cranes above.
According to ship tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon, the ship arrived in Iskenderun, Turkey, eight days later. Photos and video by Yoruk Isik, an Istanbul-based geopolitical analyst and head of consulting firm Bosphorus Observer, show dockside cranes operating near the port of Dortyol on April 27.
Since March, the Mikhail Nenashev has visited the grain terminal in Sevastopol at least three more times before arriving in Turkey between 5 and 15 days later, according to satellite imagery and ship tracking data.
In one instance, 27,000 tons of wheat were unloaded at Turkey’s Derince seaport on April 22, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon, which shows the cargo was loaded at Sevastopol in Crimea. Ukraine, in its June 13 letter, said that Mikhail Nenashev had loaded 27,500 tons of grain at the Avlita Grain Terminal in Sevastopol in April, without specifying the day.
Dortyol Port did not respond to R inquiries about the shipments or precautions being taken amid Ukrainian claims. Derince Port confirmed that he received “Russian ships with grain” but did not comment on the screening processes. No one answered the phone at Avlita headquarters, and a person at the Sevastopol office who answered the phone denied any knowledge of Ukrainian grain at the port and hung up.
Another of the ships, the Matros Pozynich, docked in Syria at least three times within a week or two of visiting the Avlita grain terminal in Sevastopol, according to satellite imagery and ship tracking data. The third ship, Matros Koshka, left Sevastopol’s grain terminal at least three times before turning off the ship’s transponders, according to satellite imagery and tracking data. On one of those occasions, it touched down in Syria 10 days later, according to Planet Labs satellite imagery.
All three vessels are owned and managed by Russia-based Crane Marine Contractor LLC and were purchased by Equasis in either December or February, according to Equasis’ ownership records. The company is a subsidiary of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), according to a copy of Crane Marine’s charter currently available on its website. USC’s website also lists Crane Marine as one of its companies. Russian company records show that according to USC company press releases in 2018, Crane Marine is owned by Caspian Energy Group, which is part of USC.
Crane Marine did not respond to a request for comment.
The United States sanctioned USC in 2014 in response to Russia’s efforts to “destabilize eastern Ukraine,” saying the state-owned defense technology company manufactures weapons and builds ships for the Russian Navy. In April, Washington renewed and expanded its sanctions against the company. Britain sanctioned USC in February.
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Reporting by Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul and Reade Levinson in London Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, Azra Ceylan, Ali Kucukgocmen, Daren Butler and David Gauthier-Villars in Istanbul, Tuvan Gumrukcu and Orhan Coskun in Ankara, Maya Gebeily in Beirut, Mark Trevelyan and Jonathan Saul in London and Gus Trompiz in Paris Edited by Cassell Bryan-Low
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