Kyiv and several analysts say the ship docked at the Russian-held port of Berdyansk in Zaporizhia in late June and sailed to Turkey carrying thousands of tons of Ukrainian grain. Moscow-backed news channels celebrated what they called the first voyage of a merchant ship from the “liberated” port. While the Zhibek Zholy may be the first to sail from Berdyansk since the start of the war, reports say other Russian ships have left other Ukrainian ports in the past, also carrying disputed grain. According to Ukraine, Turkey seized the Zhibek Zholy near its port of Karasu on July 3, and the Turkish Foreign Ministry said it was investigating Ukraine’s claims about the grain. However, the ship left the Turkish port area late on Wednesday, upsetting a Ukrainian official who said the Zhibek Zholy was allowed to leave “despite criminal evidence presented to Turkish authorities”. The final destination of the ship is not known. We regret that the Russian ship Zhibek Zholy, which was loaded with stolen Ukrainian grain, was allowed to leave the port of Karasu despite the criminal evidence presented to the Turkish authorities. Ambassador of Turkey in Kyiv will be invited to @MFA_Ukraine to clarify this unacceptable situation — Oleg Nikolenko (@OlegNikolenko_) July 7, 2022 Russia on Wednesday denied wrongdoing and even dismissed reports that the cargo ship had been detained at all, with a foreign ministry spokesman in Moscow saying the Zhibek Zholy was “subject to formalities”. (Al Jazeera) The dispute has highlighted global fears of a food crisis. Russia’s war against Ukraine, a top wheat producer, has seen exports freeze and accusations have grown that Moscow is stealing its neighbour’s soft goods. Nikolai Gorbachev, president of the Ukrainian Grain Union, told Al Jazeera that Russian soldiers steal grain stored in silos and transport it by truck or rail to the ports of occupied Crimea – Kerch or Sevastopol – and load it onto ships while the transponders are disabled. “They steal the crops with brutal violence and intimidation using their weapons,” Gorbachev said. “They force farmers to sow the fields and warn that they will forcibly take 70% of the future crops for free.” The Zhibek Zholy case could also prove to be a test of Turkish loyalty. Ankara has played a mediating role in the war and has ties to both sides, while the UN has called on Turkey to help create a grain export corridor. Until now, Turkish authorities have avoided sparking a conflict with Moscow by not detaining Russian ships, despite allegations that questionable Ukrainian cargoes had entered its ports. Here’s what you need to know about the controversy:
Where was Zhibek Zholy?
On June 22, the 7,146-ton (dwt) general cargo departed from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia, and headed for the eastern shores of the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow invaded and annexed in 2014. Marine traffic websites show it crossed the Kerch Strait on June 23 and docked in the early hours of two days later just off the coast at Port Kavkaz, Russia. As is often the case with Russian ships approaching Crimea, these locations indicated that the Zhibek Zholy stopped reporting its position shortly thereafter, in violation of international law. Its transponders, which automatically report a ship’s position and course to other ships and ports, were reactivated four days later. The cargo ship reappeared on June 29 in the Sea of Azov, crossed the Kerch Strait and sailed to the Turkish Black Sea port of Karasu. While in Turkey’s Exclusive Economic Zone on July 3, he was detained by customs authorities, Ukraine’s ambassador to Ankara said. “According to the information we have, this ship was loaded with grain taken from different warehouses in or around the Berdyansk region,” Vasyl Bodnar told Al Jazeera. “It was [headed] in Karasu port with documents from Berdyansk port,” he said, adding that Turkish authorities have launched an investigation. Ukraine’s prosecutor general has submitted to Ankara a request to detain the ship as well as “full evidence” of the grain smuggling, Bodnar said. While Moscow denies wrongdoing, the Kremlin-linked, self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has been keen to publicize Zhibek Zholy’s mission. On June 30, Crimea News reported the arrival of the first cargo ship in “liberated and peaceful” Berdyansk, a port built in June 1830 to export grain. A journalist boarded the ship carrying what he called the “revival of centuries-old traditions.” Although the name of the vessel was unclear in the Crimea News footage, marine tracking websites were able to identify it. The video from Crimea News matches the image of Zhibek Zholy in sea traffic [Screengrab Crimea News/ Marine Traffic]
Why did Turkey arrest Zhibek Zholy?
Turkey has supported Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity while trying to avoid confrontation with Russia. Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, said last month that Ankara was investigating allegations that looted grain entered its ports and that it “would not allow these goods to come to us.” But in the end, Turkey found no evidence of such shipments, he said. According to Yörük Işık, an Istanbul-based geopolitical analyst who runs the ship-tracking website Bosphorus Observer, about 20 ships sailed from Sevastopol and Kerch to Turkish ports in June alone. Turkey had so far avoided detaining Russian ships, but “because the so-called Donetsk Republic had so publicly revealed the opening of the port of Berdyansk, [the Zhibek Zholy] it attracted attention,” Işık told Al Jazeera. The publicity could be a Russian attempt to gain international recognition for the Donetsk Republic by involving trade with other countries, but “this was a step too far for Turkey.” As such, Zhibek Zholy has become a “test case” of Turkish foreign policy, which has so far found itself “in the impossible position of being pro-Ukraine but not anti-Russia,” the analyst said. Late on Wednesday, maritime traffic websites recorded the vessel departing from its berth outside the port of Karasu to an unspecified destination. According to Işık, “the most favorable scenario for Turkey is if Zhibek Zholy disappears overnight.”
What evidence is there of illegal shipments from Ukraine?
Monitoring groups including Bosphorus Observer and Ukraine-based SeaKrime have documented numerous ships loading grain and other goods from occupied areas of Ukraine. The Russian bulk carrier Mikhail Nenashev recently headed to the port of Iskenderun in Turkey after loading at the Avlita grain terminal in Russian-held Sevastopol, according to SeaKrime. Bosphorous Observer’s analysis of shipping data, images from ports, local TV news and satellite images suggests that three ships operated by the Syrian government’s official shipping line were in occupied ports in Crimea and Abkhazia. Laodicea, Phoenicia and Syria are understood to have often transported building materials from Turkey to Crimea and Abkhazia and usually brought back wheat or scrap metal. These cargoes are considered contraband because their movement across the border of Ukraine is not recorded according to the law and the customs service of Ukraine.
