The United Kingdom accused Russia on Wednesday of considering attacking civilian ships in the Black Sea with sea mines to prevent the export of Ukrainian grain.
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“Intelligence (…) suggests that Russia is attempting to attack civilian ships using the ‘humanitarian corridor’ in Ukraine to disrupt the export of Ukrainian grain,” the British Foreign Office wrote in a statement.
Moscow “will certainly want to avoid openly sinking civilian ships and will unfairly blame Ukraine for any attack,” he adds.
This information “shows (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s complete disregard for the lives of civilians and the needs of the world’s most vulnerable,” while many African countries rely on Ukrainian agriculture for their grain supplies, denounced British diplomatic chief James Cleverly, speaking in press release is quoted.
AFP
By publishing this information, “the UK aims to denounce Russian tactics and prevent such an incident from occurring,” London says, adding: “We want to work with Ukraine and other partners to take measures to improve maritime security to take.”
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the United Kingdom has deployed intelligence agencies to monitor Russian activities in the Black Sea.
“These capabilities will help us attribute and denounce future Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure or ships,” the State Department warns.
According to London, Russia has destroyed 130 port infrastructures in Ukraine and destroyed 300,000 tons of grain since it withdrew from the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea in July.
Last month, the United Kingdom accused Russian forces of attempting to use several rocket attacks to destroy a civilian cargo ship flying the Liberian flag that docked in the port of Odessa at the end of August.
Since this summer, the number of attacks in the Black Sea has increased on both sides, with Russia in particular intensifying its bombing of Ukraine’s transport infrastructure.