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Tsavousoglu: We have not found evidence of stolen Ukrainian grain in Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoλουlu said today that Ankara was investigating allegations that Ukrainian grain had been stolen from Russia and shipped to countries including Turkey, but added that investigations had not found any stolen cargo, according to the report. Reuters.

Kiev’s ambassador to Ankara said in early June that Turkish buyers were among those receiving grain stolen from Russia by Ukraine, adding that he had sought Turkish help in locating and arresting those responsible for the alleged shipments. .

Russia has previously denied allegations that it stole Ukrainian grain, while the Kremlin today reiterated that it had not stolen grain.

Speaking at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary Liz Tras in Ankara, Tsavusoglu denied Ukraine’s allegations of stolen grain shipments to Turkey, saying Ankara had not yet seen such a case and had informed any result of the research.

“We took every allegation seriously and carried out investigations based on these allegations. We saw that the port of departure of the ships and the origin of the goods are Russia in the archives, based on the investigations we made after the allegations made about Turkey,” he said. .

“We are against the theft of Ukrainian grain or other goods stolen by Russia or any other nation and then illegally sold in international markets and we, as Turkey, will not allow these goods to come to us,” Tsavousoglu added. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment on the matter.

Kyiv has criticized Turkey’s reluctance to impose sanctions on Russia since the February 24 invasion of Moscow, but has also thanked Ankara for its diplomatic and military support in ending the war, including hosting officials from both sides. for peace talks.

Russia and Ukraine account for almost a third of the world’s wheat supplies, while Russia also exports fertilizers and Ukraine exports corn and sunflower oil. But Ukrainian grain shipments from Black Sea ports have been halted by the Russian invasion, with about 20 million tonnes of grain stuck.

The UN has called on both countries, as well as neighboring (by sea) Turkey, to set up a sea corridor to export Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea. Ankara, which has backed the UN-led plan, has held talks with Moscow and the UN, but says all sides must meet for a final agreement.

Tsavousoglu said today that Ankara was focusing more on talks with Moscow at the moment to organize a quadripartite meeting in Istanbul to discuss the details of the plan.

Source: Capital

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