Russian warship fires warning shots at cargo ship in Black Sea

MOSCOW, Aug 13 (Reuters) – A Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the southwestern Black Sea on Sunday as it headed north, the first time Russia has fired at merchant shipping beyond of Ukraine since exiting a UN-negotiated milestone. grain deal last month.

Russia in July stopped participation in the Black Sea grains deal that allowed Ukraine to export agricultural products through the Black Sea and Moscow warned that it considered all ships headed for Ukrainian waters could carry weapons.

Russia said in a statement that its patrol boat Vasily Bykov had fired automatic weapons at the Palauan-flagged ship Sukru Okan after the ship’s captain failed to respond to a request to stop for an inspection.

Russia said the ship was heading towards the Ukrainian port of Izmail. Refinitiv shipping data showed that the ship was currently near the coast of Bulgaria and heading towards the Romanian port of Sulina.

“To forcibly stop the ship, warning fire was opened with automatic weapons,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The Russian military boarded the ship with the help of a Ka-29 helicopter, the ministry said.

“After the inspection group completed its work on board, the Sukru Okan continued on its way to the port of Izmail,” the Defense Ministry said.

A Turkish Defense Ministry official said he had heard that there had been an incident involving a ship heading to Romania and that Ankara was investigating it.

Reuters could not immediately reach the ship or its owners for comment. Ukraine did not immediately comment on the incident.

BLACK SEA AT WAR?

Firing on a merchant ship will heighten already acute concerns among shipowners, insurers and commodity traders about the potential dangers of becoming trapped in the Black Sea, the main route used by both Ukraine and Russia to get their agricultural products to market. .

Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s leading agricultural producers and major players in the markets for wheat, barley, corn, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seeds, and sunflower oil. Russia is also dominant in the fertilizer market.

Since Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grains deal, both Moscow and kyiv have issued warnings and carried out attacks that have unnerved global commodity, oil and shipping markets.

Russia has said it will treat any ships approaching Ukrainian ports as potential military ships, and its flag countries as fighters on the Ukrainian side. Russia also hit Ukrainian grain facilities on the Danube.

Ukraine responded with a similar threat to ships approaching Russian or Russian-controlled Ukrainian ports. Ukraine also attacked a Russian tanker and a warship at its Novorossiysk naval base, next to a major grain and oil port.

Ukraine and the West say Russia’s moves amount to a de facto blockade of Ukrainian ports that threatens to cut off the flow of Ukrainian wheat and sunflower seeds to world markets.

Russia dismisses that interpretation, saying the West failed to implement a side deal softening the rules for its own food and fertilizer exports.

Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Huseyin Hayatsever in Ankara; Edited by Nick Macfie

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