No grain transport will take place today in the Black Sea
The Joint Coordination Center (JCC), responsible for overseeing the international agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian grain, announced last night that no “joint agreement [n’avait] was found at the CCC regarding the exit and entry movements of freighters on October 30”. Yesterday, Moscow, citing an attack by Ukrainian drones that took place during the night on its ships in the Black Sea, announced that it was suspending its participation in the agreement signed on July 22 in Istanbul.
The CCC, which brings together delegates from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN in Istanbul, specifies that it has been informed by Russia of its “cargo safety concerns” and forwarded them to the Turkish and Ukrainian delegations. Ankara has not officially reacted since this announcement.
Nine cargo ships were able to use the maritime corridor in the Black Sea on Saturday and “more than ten others” are ready to do the same in both directions, specifies the Center, which oversees the proper application of the agreement. This provides in particular for an inspection of cargo ships using the Bosphorus in both directions, empty and loaded, by five teams made up of two Russian inspectors, two Ukrainians, two Turks and two delegates from the United Nations.
Since the beginning of the month, the slowness of inspections has been criticized by Ukraine, which has accused Russia of obstruction. The CCC had more than 170 cargo ships awaiting inspection off Istanbul this week. The agreement, which entered into force on 1is August, exported more than 9 million tons of grain and other agricultural products from Ukrainian ports, according to the CCC.