Russia reveals conditions for facilitating movement of Ukraine’s grain ships

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that the Russian Navy would facilitate the movement of ships with Ukrainian grain if Ukraine cleared its territorial waters of mines.

Lavrov made the relevant remarks at a press conference following talks with Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani on May 31, according to TASS.

“We informed about the measures that the Russian side has been taking for more than a month, guaranteeing the free transportation of Ukrainian grain by ships that are now locked in Ukrainian ports. For this purpose, Ukraine should clear its coastal waters of mines,” he said.

“We have been attracting the attention of our Western colleagues worried about this for many weeks. If this demining problem is solved, then the Russian naval forces will facilitate the movement of these ships to the Mediterranean Sea and further to their destinations,” he noted.  

The minister added that Russia, for its part, has done everything long ago to solve the food security problem.

“Those current initiatives on food security should be resolved taking into account that the Russian side guaranteed everything that depends on it long ago. However, Western countries, which have created a lot of artificial problems by closing their ports for Russian ships, suppressing logistics and financial chains, should think whether doing PR on food security problem or solving the problem by taking concrete steps is important for them,” Lavrov said.