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Kyiv asks Turkey to probe three more Russian ships it alleges transported stolen grain

Russian-flagged bulk carrier Mikhail Nenashev is unloaded at the MMK Port in Dortyol near the Mediterranean town of Iskenderun, Turkey June 27, 2022. (REUTERS)
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Updated 06 July 2022
Reuters
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Kyiv asks Turkey to probe three more Russian ships it alleges transported stolen grain

  • The conflict in Ukraine has heightened concerns about food security both in Ukraine and around the globe, driving up world food prices to record levels this year
  • NATO member Turkey, which has good ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, has criticized the invasion but also rejected Western sanctions on Russia
Updated 06 July 2022
Reuters

ISTANBUL: Ukraine has asked Turkey to help investigate three Russian-flagged ships as part of Kyiv’s efforts to probe what it alleges is the theft of grain from Russian-occupied territory, according to official documents.
In a June 13 letter, which hasn’t previously been reported, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office asked Turkey’s justice ministry to investigate and provide evidence on the three named ships it suspects have been involved in transporting grain allegedly stolen from recently occupied Ukrainian territories, such as Kherson.
The letter, which Reuters reviewed, said the ships traveled from Crimea’s main grain terminal in Sevastopol in April and May and pressed Ankara to obtain documentation about their cargo and arrival at Turkish ports. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.




Smoke rises in the sky after shelling near a winter wheat field, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Bakhmut, in Donetsk region, Ukraine. (REUTERS)

All three large dry bulk carriers — Mikhail Nenashev, Matros Pozynich and Matros Koshka — are owned by a subsidiary of a Western-sanctioned Russian state-owned company called United Shipbuilding Corporation, according to Equasis, a shipping database. The Russian company didn’t respond to a request for comment.
If it is established that United Shipbuilding Corporation transported grain from recently-occupied Ukrainian territory, it would add to emerging evidence of the involvement by Russian-state owned entities in exporting what Kyiv alleges is stolen goods. Ukraine has publicly accused Moscow of stealing grain since the February invasion; Russia has repeatedly denied it has stolen any Ukrainian grain.
The conflict in Ukraine has heightened concerns about food security both in Ukraine and around the globe, driving up world food prices to record levels this year. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters but has struggled to export goods with war raging along its southern coast and many of its ports blocked. Grain accounts for nearly a fifth of all the country’s exports, according to official data.
Reuters was unable to determine the origin or end destination of the grain in the ships named by Kyiv in the letter.
The Kremlin didn’t respond to requests for comment. Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-installed administration in Kherson, said grain from the region was going to Crimea and that local farmers were responsible for transporting it there. He said he had no knowledge of any shipments to Turkey or the Middle East.
Reuters on Friday reported that Kyiv in a separate letter, dated June 30, asked Turkey’s justice ministry to detain and arrest another Russian-flagged ship carrying what it said was Ukrainian grain from the occupied port of Berdyansk. On Monday, a senior Turkish official said Turkey had halted the cargo ship and is investigating Ukraine’s claim.
NATO member Turkey, which has good ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, has criticized the invasion but also rejected Western sanctions on Russia. Ankara has agreed with Ukraine to block commercial shipments between Crimea and Turkey since 2014.
At the same time, Turkey has played a key role in discussions between the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine on a potential Black Sea corridor to export grain from Ukraine.
Turkey’s justice ministry declined to comment on Kyiv’s two letters and referred to recent comments by the Turkish foreign ministry that it had investigated Ukraine’s public claims that grain stolen by Russia had made its way to Turkey and determined there was no issue.
“We saw that the ships’ port of departure and the origin of the goods is Russia on the records,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters on June 23, without identifying which ships. “We are against Ukrainian grains or other goods being taken by Russia … and we will not allow these goods to come to us.” The foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the ship from Berdyansk that arrived in Turkey late last week.
A Turkish diplomatic source added that Kyiv had shared with Ankara its claims about allegedly stolen grain being brought to Turkey via Russian ships and that cooperation with Ukrainian officials was ongoing.
The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment. Taras Vysotskiy, the first deputy to Ukraine’s agriculture minister, told Reuters that Kyiv estimates about 400,000 tons of stolen grain has been exported. Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, told Reuters Ukraine believes most of that has gone to Turkey and Kyiv has sent what it considered to be evidence on the involvement of 13 ships to Turkish authorities.
The June 13 letter said at least two of the ships switched off tracking systems that openly broadcast before entering Sevastopol port.
It also said Kyiv suspected grain was being taken from recently occupied territory, particularly Kherson, where it said there were several grain elevators that the owners don’t have access to due to the occupation. It didn’t identify the owners. Kyiv, in the letter, added that it is investigating criminal violations of Ukraine’s rules and customs of war, without naming individuals.
Ukraine’s embassy in Beirut told Reuters that at least seven companies who own storage units in newly-occupied territory have registered criminal cases with Ukrainian authorities alleging Russia stole their wheat. Two of the companies, Ukrlandfarming and State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, confirmed to Reuters they had submitted a document to Ukrainian authorities but declined to provide details. The others didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Ukraine has also said Russia has sent its ally Syria wheat allegedly stolen from Ukraine since invading in February. Ukraine’s embassy in Beirut told Reuters that at least 150,000 tons of what it said was “stolen” wheat have made it to Syria since February, mostly on Russian ships, without specifying how it knew.
Neither Syria’s port authority, which is part of the transport ministry, nor the Syrian information ministry responded to requests for comment.

TURKISH TRIPS
One of the vessels Kyiv named in the June 13 letter, the 169-meter long Mikhail Nenashev, was at Sevastopol’s Avlita grain terminal from June 14 to 16, according to satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs PBC, a private satellite operator, which show the ship docked beside grain silos with cranes towering above.
The vessel arrived eight days later at Iskenderun, Turkey, according to Refinitiv Eikon ship-tracking data. Photos and videos supplied by Yoruk Isik, an Istanbul-based geopolitical analyst and head of the Bosphorus Observer consultancy, show port cranes lifting what appears from the images to be a golden, grain-like cargo from the Mikhail Nenashev into trucks on June 27 at nearby Dortyol port.
Since March, the Mikhail Nenashev has visited the Sevastopol grain terminal on at least three other occasions before arriving in Turkey between 5 and 15 days later, according to satellite imagery and ship-tracking data.
In one instance, it unloaded 27,000 tons of wheat in the Turkish seaport of Derince on April 22, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon, which shows the cargo was loaded in Sevastopol, Crimea. Ukraine, in its June 13 letter, said the Mikhail Nenashev loaded 27,500 tons of grain at Sevastopol’s Avlita grain terminal in April, without specifying which day.
Dortyol Port did not respond to Reuters’ queries about the shipments or precautions taken in light of Ukrainian claims. Derince Port confirmed it received “Russian ships carrying grains” but did not comment on screening processes. There was no answer at Avlita’s head office and a person at the Sevastopol office who answered the phone denied all knowledge of Ukrainian grain at the port and put down the phone.
Another one of the ships, the Matros Pozynich, docked in Syria on at least three occasions within a week or two of visiting Sevastopol’s Avlita grain terminal, according to satellite imagery and ship-tracking data. The third ship, Matros Koshka, has on at least three occasions left Sevastopol’s grain terminal before turning off ship transponders, according to satellite imagery and tracking data. On one of those occasions, it docked in Syria 10 days later, according to a Planet Labs satellite image.
All three ships are owned and managed by Russian-based company Crane Marine Contractor LLC and were purchased in either December or February, according to ownership records from Equasis. The company is a subsidiary of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), according to a copy of Crane Marine’s charter currently on its website. USC’s website also lists Crane Marine as one of its companies. Russian company records show Crane Marine is owned by Caspian Energy group, which is part of USC, according to USC company press releases dated in 2018.
Crane Marine didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The United States sanctioned USC in 2014 in response to Russia’s efforts “to destabilize eastern Ukraine” saying the state-owned defense technology firm manufactured arms and built ships for the Russian navy. In April, Washington renewed and expanded its sanctions relating to the company. Britain sanctioned USC in February.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Turkey Wheat crisis grain

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Afghanistan bets on ‘red gold’ for global market presence

Updated 23 November 2024
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Afghanistan bets on ‘red gold’ for global market presence

  • Afghanistan is the world’s second-largest saffron producer, after Iran
  • Afghan saffron has been for years recognized as the world’s best
Updated 23 November 2024
MODASER ISLAMI

Kabul: As the saffron harvest season is underway in Afghanistan, traders are expecting better yields than in previous years, sparking hopes that exports of the precious crop, known locally as “red gold,” will help uplift the country’s battered economy and livelihoods.
Afghanistan is the world’s second-largest saffron producer, after Iran, but it ranks first in terms of quality. In June, the Belgium-based International Taste Institute for the ninth consecutive year recognized Afghan saffron as the world’s best.
Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, selling for about $2,000 per kilogram. Its exports provide critical foreign currency to Afghanistan, where US-imposed sanctions have severely affected the fragile economy since the Taliban took control in 2021.

With this year’s production expected to exceed 50 tons — about double that of the 2023 and 2022 seasons — the government and the Afghanistan National Saffron Union are trying to boost exports abroad.
“The harvest of saffron this year is good. During the first nine months (of 2024), Afghanistan exported around 46 tons of saffron to different countries,” Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada, spokesperson at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, told Arab News.
“Everywhere our traders want to export saffron, we support them in any part of the world through air corridors and facilitating the participation of Afghan traders in national and international exhibitions.”
Known to have been cultivated for at least 2,000 years, saffron is well suited to Afghanistan’s dry climate, especially in Herat, where 90 percent of it is produced. Most of the spice’s trade is also centered in the province, which last weekend inaugurated its International Saffron Trade Center to facilitate exports.
“The new international saffron trade center is established with global standards and will bring major processing and trade companies to one place providing a single venue for farmers to trade their products with the best possible conditions,” Mohammad Ibrahim Adil, head of the Afghanistan National Saffron Union, told Arab News.

The union’s main export market is India, where saffron is a common ingredient in food, followed by Gulf countries — especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“Saffron exports bring the much-needed foreign currency to Afghanistan contributing significantly to stabilization of the financial cycle in the country,” said Qudratullah Rahmati, the saffron union’s deputy head.
The union estimates that saffron contributes about $100 million to the Afghan economy a year.
Most, or 95 percent, of the workers are women, according to the saffron union.
“Saffron production is supporting many families, especially women, during the harvest and processing phase through short-term and long-term employment opportunities. There are around 80-85 registered small and big saffron companies in Herat and the small ones employ four to five people while the bigger ones have up to 80 permanent staff,” said Qudratullah Rahmati, the saffron union’s deputy head.
Harvesting the little purple saffron crocus flowers is heavily labor intensive, as each of them needs to be picked by hand. Once the flowers are picked, their tiny orange stigmas are separated for drying. About 440,000 stigmas are needed to produce one kilogram of the fragrant spice.
The harvest season usually begins between October and November are lasts just a few weeks before the flowers wilt.

Pressure ramps up at UN talks to reach a deal for cash to curb and adapt to climate change

Updated 23 November 2024
AP
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Pressure ramps up at UN talks to reach a deal for cash to curb and adapt to climate change

  • The rough draft of a new proposal circulating in that room was getting soundly rejected, especially by African nations and small island states
  • The “current deal is unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do,” Evans Njewa, the chair of the LDC group, said
Updated 23 November 2024
AP

BAKU: As nerves frayed and the clock ticked, negotiators from rich and poor nations were huddled in one room Saturday during overtime United Nations climate talks to try to hash out an elusive deal on money for developing countries to curb and adapt to climate change.
But the rough draft of a new proposal circulating in that room was getting soundly rejected, especially by African nations and small island states, according to messages relayed from inside. Then a group of negotiators from the Least Developed Countries bloc and the Alliance of Small Island States walked out because they didn’t want to engage with the rough draft.
The “current deal is unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do,” Evans Njewa, the chair of the LDC group, said.
When asked if the walkout was a protest, Colombia environment minister Susana Mohamed told The Associated Press: “I would call this dissatisfaction, (we are) highly dissatisfied.”
The last official draft on Friday pledged $250 billion annually by 2035, more than double the previous goal of $100 billion set 15 years ago but far short of the annual $1 trillion-plus that experts say is needed. The rough draft discussed on Saturday was for $300 billion, sources told AP.
Accusations of a war of attrition
Developing countries accused the rich of trying to get their way — and a small financial aid package — via a war of attrition. And small island nations, particularly vulnerable to climate change’s worsening impacts, accused the host country presidency of ignoring them for the entire two weeks.
After bidding one of his suitcase-lugging delegation colleagues goodbye and watching the contingent of about 20 enter the room for the European Union, Panama chief negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez had enough.
“Every minute that passes we are going to just keep getting weaker and weaker and weaker. They don’t have that issue. They have massive delegations,” Gomez said. “This is what they always do. They break us at the last minute. You know, they push it and push it and push it until our negotiators leave. Until we’re tired, until we’re delusional from not eating, from not sleeping.”
With developing nations’ ministers and delegation chiefs having to catch flights home, desperation sets in, said Power Shift Africa’s Mohamed Adow. “The risk is if developing countries don’t hold the line, they will likely be forced to compromise and accept a goal that doesn’t add up to get the job done,” he said.
Cedric Schuster, the Samoan chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States issued a statement saying they “were not part of the discussion that gave rise to these imbalanced texts” and asked the COP29 presidency to listen to them.
A climate cash deal is still elusive
Wealthy nations are obligated to help vulnerable countries under an agreement reached at these talks in Paris in 2015. Developing nations are seeking $1.3 trillion to help adapt to droughts, floods, rising seas and extreme heat, pay for losses and damages caused by extreme weather, and transition their energy systems away from planet-warming fossil fuels and toward clean energy.
For Panama’s negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez even a higher $300 billion figure is “still crumbs.”
“How do you go from the request of $1.3 trillion to $300 billion? I mean, is that even half of what we put forth?” he asked.
On Saturday morning, Irish environment minister Eamon Ryan said that there’ll likely be a new number for climate finance in the next draft. “But it’s not just that number — it’s how do you get to $1.3 trillion,” he said.
Ryan said that any number reached at the COP will have to be supplemented with other sources of finance, for example through a market for carbon emissions where polluters would pay to offset the carbon they spew.
The amount in any deal reached at COP negotiations — often considered a “core” — will then be mobilized or leveraged for greater climate spending. But much of that means loans for countries drowning in debt.
Teresa Anderson, the global lead on climate justice at Action Aid, said that in order to get a deal, “the presidency has to put something far better on the table.”
“The US in particular, and rich countries, need to do far more to to show that they’re willing for real money to come forward,” she said. “And if they don’t, then LDCs (Least Developed Countries) are unlikely to find that there’s anything here for them.”
Anger and frustration over state of negotiations
Alden Meyer of the climate think tank E3G said it’s still up in the air whether a deal on finance will come out of Baku at all.
“It is still not out of the question that there could be an inability to close the gap on the finance issue,” he said. “That obviously is not an ideal scenario.”
Jiwoh Emmanuel Abdulai, the Sierra-Leone environment minister, echoed that sentiment, saying “a bad deal may be worse than no deal for us.”
Nations were also angry at potential backsliding on commitments to slash fossil fuels. German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock called out rich fossil fuel emitters who she said have “ripped off” climate vulnerable states.
“We are in the midst of a geopolitical power play by a few fossil fuel states,” Baerbock said. “We have to do everything to come toward the 1.5 degree (Celsius, 2.7 Fahrenheit) pathway” of keeping warming below that temperature limit since preindustrial times, she said.
But despite the fractures between nations, some still held out hopes for the talks.
“We remain optimistic,” said Nabeel Munir of Pakistan, who chairs one of the talks standing negotiating committees.
When asked how, COP29 climate champion Nigar Arpadarai chimed in. “We have no choice,” she said, as the harms of climate change continue to worsen.

Topics: COP29 Baku UN climate

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Ukraine has lost over 40 percent of the land it held in Russia’s Kursk region, senior Kyiv military source says

Updated 23 November 2024
Reuters
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Ukraine has lost over 40 percent of the land it held in Russia’s Kursk region, senior Kyiv military source says

  • “At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometers, now of course this territory is smaller,” the source said
  • “Now we control approximately 800 square kilometers“
Updated 23 November 2024
Reuters

KYIV: Ukraine has lost over 40 percent of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said.
The source, who is on Ukraine’s General Staff, said Russia had deployed some 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv’s forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared 2-1/2 years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometers (531 square miles), now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks,” the source said.
“Now we control approximately 800 square kilometers (309 square miles). We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appropriate.”
The Kursk offensive was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War Two and caught Moscow unprepared.
With the thrust into Kursk, Kyiv aimed to stem Russian attacks in eastern and northeastern Ukraine, force Russia to pull back forces gradually advancing in the east and give Kyiv extra leverage in any future peace negotiations.
But Russian forces are still steadily advancing in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian General Staff source reiterated that about 11,000 North Korean troops had arrived in the Kursk region in support of Russia, but that the bulk of their forces was still finalizing their training.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Kyiv’s freshest assessment of the state of play in the Kursk region. Reuters could not independently verify the figures or descriptions given.
Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean forces in Kursk.
Ukraine’s armed forces chief said on Nov. 11 that its beleaguered forces were not just battling crack Russian reinforcements in Kursk but also scrambling to reinforce two besieged fronts in eastern Ukraine and bracing for an infantry assault in the south.

THREATENING RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN EASTERN UKRAINE
The General Staff source said the Kurakhove region was the most threatening for Kyiv now as Russian forces were advancing there at 200-300 meters (yards) a day and had managed to break through in some areas with armored vehicles backed by anti-drone defenses.
The town of Kurakhove is a stepping stone toward the critical logistical hub of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.
Overall Russia has about 575,000 troops fighting in Ukraine at the moment, the Ukrainian General Staff source said, and is aiming to increase its forces up to around 690,000.
Russia does not disclose numbers involved in its fighting, and Reuters could not independently verify those figures.
As Ukraine fights a bigger and better-equipped enemy, Kyiv has sought to disrupt Russian logistics and supply chains by hitting Russian weapons and ammunition depots, airfields, and other military targets well inside Russia.
Ukraine gained a freer hand to do so earlier this month after, according to sources familiar with the matter, President Joe Biden dropped his opposition to Kyiv firing US-supplied missiles at targets deep inside Russia in response to North Korea’s entry into the war. Last week Ukraine fired US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow
cruise missiles into Russia. One of the ATACMS targets was an arms depot about 110 km (70 miles) inside Russia. Moscow vowed to respond to what it sees as an escalation by Ukraine’s Western supporters. On Thursday, Russia launched a new medium-range ballistic missile into the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, in a likely warning to NATO.
Ukrainian officials are holding talks with the United States and Britain regarding new air defense systems capable of protecting Ukrainian cities and civilians from the new longer-range aerial threats.
The Ukrainian General Staff source said the military had also implemented measures to bolster air defenses over the capital Kyiv and planned similar steps for the city of Sumy in the north and Kharkiv in the northeast, both near front lines. Russia now occupies a fifth of Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin has said he wants Kyiv to drop ambitions to join the NATO military alliance and retreat from four Ukrainian regions that he partially holds, demands Kyiv has rejected as tantamount to capitulation.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Kursk Region Ukrainian military

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UK police carry out controlled explosion near London Euston station

Updated 23 November 2024
Reuters
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UK police carry out controlled explosion near London Euston station

  • LBC News reported earlier that the station had been evacuated
Updated 23 November 2024
Reuters

LONDON: British police carried out a controlled explosion near Euston railway station in central London after investigating a suspect package, they said on Saturday.
“A controlled explosion has been carried out by specialist officers and the police cordons have now been lifted,” the capital’s Metropolitan Police said on social media platform X.


LBC News reported earlier that the station had been evacuated.
In a previous statement, the police said they were aware of reports online about an incident “in the vicinity of Euston Station” and that cordons were in place as a precaution.
Those cordons have now been removed, they said in an update.

Topics: UK Metropolitan Police explosion Euston railway

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Afghanistan bets on ‘red gold’ for global market presence

Updated 23 November 2024
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Afghanistan bets on ‘red gold’ for global market presence

  • Afghanistan is the world’s second-largest saffron producer
  • Afghan saffron considered world’s best by International Taste Institute
Updated 23 November 2024
MODASER ISLAMI

KABUL: With the saffron harvest season underway in Afghanistan, local traders are expecting better yields than in previous years, sparking hopes that exports of the precious crop, known locally as “red gold,” will help improve the country’s battered economy.

Afghanistan is the world’s second-largest saffron producer, after Iran. In June, the Belgium-based International Taste Institute named Afghan saffron as the world’s best for the ninth consecutive year.

Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, selling for around $2,000 per kilogram. Its exports provide critical foreign currency to Afghanistan, where US-imposed sanctions have severely affected the economy since the Taliban took control in 2021.

With this year’s saffron yield expected to exceed 50 tons — roughly double that of the 2023 and 2022 seasons — the government and the Afghanistan National Saffron Union are looking to boost exports.

“The harvest of saffron this year is good. During the first nine months (of 2024), Afghanistan exported around 46 tons of saffron to different countries,” Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada, spokesperson at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, told Arab News. “Everywhere our traders want to export saffron we support them through air corridors and facilitating the participation of Afghan traders in national and international exhibitions.”

Known to have been cultivated for at least 2,000 years, saffron is well suited to Afghanistan’s dry climate, especially in Herat, where 90 percent of Afghan saffron is produced. Most saffron trading is also centered in the province, which last weekend inaugurated its International Saffron Trade Center to facilitate exports.

“The new center has been established in accordance with global standards and will bring major processing and trade companies to one place, providing a single venue for farmers to trade their products in the best possible conditions,” Mohammad Ibrahim Adil, head of the Afghanistan National Saffron Union, told Arab News.

The union’s main export market is India, where saffron is a common ingredient in food, followed by the GCC — especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

“Saffron exports bring much-needed foreign currency to Afghanistan, contributing significantly to stabilization of the financial cycle in the country,” said Qudratullah Rahmati, the saffron union’s deputy head.

The union estimates that saffron contributes about $100 million to the Afghan economy a year.

Around 95 percent of the workers in the saffron industry are women, according to the union.

“Saffron production is supporting many families, especially women, during the harvest and processing phase through short- and long-term employment opportunities. There are around 80-85 registered saffron companies in Herat. The small ones employ four to five people while the bigger ones have up to 80 permanent staff,” Rahmati explained.

Harvesting saffron is difficult and time-consuming work. The flowers are handpicked, and their tiny orange stigmas are separated for drying. Roughly 440,000 stigmas are needed to produce one kilogram of the fragrant spice.

The harvest season usually begins sometime in October or November and lasts just a few weeks.

Topics: Afghanistan saffron Agriculture

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