Posted on 05/25/2022 7:28:39 PM PDT by blam
After being accused of using the food supply as blackmail and a bargaining chip, Russia said Wednesday its military will open up protected sea corridors for international shipping to pass through from seven Ukrainian ports that have thus far been blockaded.
According to a defense ministry statement reported by Bloomberg late in the day, “Humanitarian maritime corridors from ports on the Black Sea and Azov Sea, including Odesa, will operate from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.”
Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania recently had a drifting mine nearby. Image: Alamy
The announcement comes two days after the head of the United Nations World Food Program David Beasley ripped Moscow for what he dubbed a “declaration of war” on global food security. He’s been urging “political solution” to the crisis of blocked Black Sea ports, saying the war in ‘the world’s breadbasket’ threatens to unleash “famine, the destabilization of nations as well as mass migration by necessity.” Millions of people in 43 countries dependent on grain from the war-torn region are “knocking on famine’s door,” he said.
However, Russia has stressed that its military is engaged in extensive and complex demining operations due thousands of mines dotting Ukraine’s coast placed by Ukrainian forces, making international shipping dangerous and impossible. As reported in the independent Moscow Times:
The port of Mariupol has resumed normal operations, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Wednesday.
The Defense Ministry said Black Sea Fleet specialists cleared more than 12,000 mines from the seaport and its surrounding areas.
Some one-third of global wheat supplies originate from Ukraine and Russia, with the bulk of it passing through the Black Sea.
On Wednesday Russia said it remains ready and willing to work with the West to reach a solution, but that easing sanctions is a necessity:
“We have repeatedly stated on this point that a solution to the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the lifting of sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko was quoted as saying by Interfax.
But the statement called on Ukraine to cease deployment of sea mines, and to engage in immediate demining operations: “And it also requires the demining by the Ukrainian side of all ports where ships are anchored. Russia is ready to provide the necessary humanitarian passage, which it does every day,” Rudenko added.
Resuming Ukrainian gain shipments will be time consuming given challenges that include mine-clearing in Black Sea ports and the need for cooperation from the very country that kicked off the war, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda says https://t.co/x4ORt9KDr8
— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) May 25, 2022
He further warned against such plans that have been floated lately by Lithuania and the UK which involve foreign military naval escorts accompanying cargo ships. Interfax quoted him as saying such a scenarios would “seriously exacerbate the situation in the Black Sea.”
Also, addressing ongoing accusations that Russia is stealing Ukrainian grain and other food sources, he stressed to reporters: “We completely reject this. We don’t steal anything from anyone.”
Regarding mines, NATO in a message this month warned all commercial traffic in the Black Sea of the growing danger of drifting mines as spillover from the Russia-Ukraine war. “The latest statement of regional authorities, confirming another sighting of a mine, shows the threat of drifting mines in the Southwest part of the Black Sea still exists,” a May 13 NATO shipping advisory said.
Most of #Ukraine and #Russia‘s grain exports originate at these 9 ports. Mykolaiv for Ukraine and Novorossiysk for Russia are the top ones.
🇺🇦&🇷🇺 account for 29% of world #wheat exports, but all grain & vegetable oil shipments from both are effectively cut off right now. pic.twitter.com/x4M6HVPVNc
— Karen Braun (@kannbwx) March 1, 2022
“An additional stray mine was detected and deactivated on 06 of April 2022 in the Southwestern part of the Black Sea. National authorities stated that the searches for mine-like objects are ongoing. The threat of more drifting mines cannot be ruled out,” it warned.
Return our yachts and....
End all of the sanctions.
Clear all of the mines.
Ensure the free flow of fuel, fertilizer, and food.
Supplies will increase and prices will decrease.
Times of India, 5/25/22: “Moscow says Mariupol port reopened after demin ing”
Those mines wouldn’t be there if the Russians had stayed home.
L
Seems like common sense, but is there an American leader willing to step up and demand these changes?
They sound more reasonable than the union bastards at Long Beach.
this article didn’t mention that 3 foreign vessels have already used this mine-cleared corridor to leave mariupol and the black sea, they left yesterday
Were they loaded with grain?
And indeed, if the DC neocons had stayed home as well.
I don’t know
This is the only other info I found:
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 70 foreign ships from 16 states are currently blocked in six ports (Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhny). They are prevented from leaving by sea mines laid by the Ukrainian Navy
In total, according to the Russian FSB, the Ukrainian Navy installed about 420 old-style sea mines in the Black and Azov Seas. At the same time, Kyiv ignored the Underwater Mines Convention, which clearly states that it is forbidden to place anchored mines that automatically explode on contact if they are not transferred to a safe mode when they break anchor.
So the mines were laid by the Ukrainian armies.
“At the same time, Kyiv ignored the Underwater Mines Convention, which clearly states that it is forbidden to place anchored mines that automatically explode on contact if they are not transferred to a safe mode when they break anchor.”
But since the Neocons have declared Keeve to be the ‘good guys’ in this war, it’s not possible for them to break international law./
Who also is using land mines. War crimes, imo
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.