The Foreign Ministry spoke about Russia’s plans to inspect ships in the Black Sea

Russia plans, if necessary, to inspect ships in the Black Sea to make sure there are no military cargoes. About it at the briefing informed Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Vershinin.

Vershinin commented on the statements of the Ministry of Defense that all vessels following through the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports will be considered by Russia as potential carriers of military cargo for Ukraine.

“To be considered and reckoned with – I mean, we must make sure of this, we must make sure that the ship is going with something bad. This means asking for inspection if necessary to see if this is true or not,” he explained. He stressed that now there is no maritime humanitarian corridor, but there is a zone of increased military danger.

On July 17, Russia left the grain agreement, which was signed on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained this by the failure to fulfill the second part of the grain deal, which concerned assistance in the export of Russian products.

After that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv plans to continue the Black Sea initiative without Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry announced that from July 20, all ships that go to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered as “potential carriers of military cargo.”

Later, similar measures were announced in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from July 21. It follows from the statement that ships sailing to the Black Sea in the direction of Russian seaports “may be considered by Ukraine as carrying military cargo, with all the associated risks.”