Ukraine accuses Russia of “stealing its wheat” and shipping it to an Arab country

In a statement to “Reuters”, the embassy said that the shipments include one on board the “Matros Pozinic” ship, which is flying in Russian flag which docked in Latakia port Syria in late May.

She said The Ukrainian embassy in Lebanon Citing Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, the wheat transported on board the ship was “stolen” from Ukrainian storage facilities in areas newly occupied by Russian forces.

The embassy added:Wheat Stolen from a facility that collects wheat from three Ukrainian regions in one silo.

“This is criminal activity,” she added, noting that more than 100,000 tons of “looted” Ukrainian wheat arrived in Syria over the past three months.

The embassy estimated that “with the arrival of wheat prices Globally, for more than $400 per ton, that amount is worth more than $40 million.

And she didn’t answer Russian Ministry of Defense The Syrian Ministry of Information was requested by “Reuters” for comment, but Moscow had previously denied allegations of wheat theft from Ukraine.

Nor was Reuters able to independently verify the Ukrainian account of the theft of its wheat.

500 thousand tons

In a statement last month, the Ministry of Agriculture Ukrainian It has detected the theft of 500 thousand tons of wheat already from the Russian-controlled areas of the country.

She explained that the wheat is sent either to Russia, from the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Lugansk regions, or to the peninsula Crimea From Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

And last April, he denied Kremlin Allegations of wheat theft and said he did not know where such information came from.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying on May 25 that Russia categorically denied reports in Western media about the theft of wheat from Ukraine, and said, “We do not steal anything from anyone.”

However, TASS news agency, citing Kirill Strimosov, deputy head of the pro-Russian civil-military administration earlier this week, said that the Ukrainian region of Kherson, which is currently under Russian control, has begun exporting wheat to Russia, without mentioning how the issue of payment for that was coordinated. exports.