Moscow allowed inspection of ships in the Black Sea

After the termination of the grain deal, Russia, if necessary, will inspect ships in the Black Sea, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said at a July 21 briefing. According to the representative of the Foreign Ministry, such measures will make sure that the ships are not used to transport weapons to Ukraine.

Two days after the Black Sea Initiative expired on July 19, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that from July 20, all ships that go to Ukrainian ports will be considered as potential carriers of military cargo, and the countries under whose flags they go, as involved in the conflict on the side of Ukraine. In addition, the military department has declared a number of areas in the northwestern and southeastern parts of international waters on the Black Sea temporarily dangerous for navigation.

“We have to make sure the ship is coming with something bad. It means inquiry, inspection if necessary, to see if it’s true or not. Now there is no longer a maritime humanitarian corridor, now there are zones, perhaps, of increased military danger,” Vershinin noted. The Russian diplomat added that such an approach was “quite logical”, especially after the July 17 terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, which killed two people.

On July 20, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry issued a similar warning, declaring ships heading for Russian seaports in the Black Sea carrying military cargo. On the same day, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, in an interview with Time magazine, said that Kyiv was ready to take any risks in order to continue exporting its grain, despite the curtailment of the “Black Sea Initiative”. He added that Kyiv, Ankara and the UN should share responsibility for minimizing risks.

Moscow has repeatedly admitted the possibility of reopening the deal after the parties demonstrate results in removing obstacles to its agro-exports and comply with Russian conditions. Among them is the reconnection of Rosselkhozbank (RSHB) to SWIFT and restoration of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline. Shortly before the end of the Black Sea initiative on July 17, UN Secretary General António Guterres sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a proposal to allow the admission of the “daughter” RSHB to the billing system. But Moscow rejected this proposal.

The problem of inspection of ships by Russia in the Black Sea is a necessity that arose after the termination of the grain deal, Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, believes. “Earlier, this issue was dealt with by the quadripartite coordination center, which was located in Istanbul. Now there are no external rules. The Russian scheme assumes that all ships entering the Black Sea will be escorted, presumably, to Sevastopol, and after obtaining permission, they will continue further navigation,” the expert said.

Another thing, Bruter continues, is that it is unlikely that foreign ships will agree to follow this route because of the insurance problem: “I doubt that insurance companies will want to insure such ships. The fighting in the Black Sea basin is still ongoing, and companies are unlikely to agree to incur losses in the face of uncertainty.”

According to Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky, an employee of the IMEMO RAS, the inspection of the ships of the warring parties, according to international law, can only take place if the parties are at war.