Stolen Ukrainian grain is carried by 87 ships - Ukrainian ambassador to Lebanon

Ukrainian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Lebanon Ihor Ostash stated this during a briefing at the Media Center.

"There is a criminal system that constantly transports stolen grain from Ukraine. It can be through Turkey, it can be directly to Syria, it can be to other countries of the Middle East. But this is such a criminal organization in which, of course, the Russians, the occupying  Russian troops in Ukraine take part. Of course, mainly Syrian and Russian ships, and not only that," Ostash said.

The ambassador emphasized that preventing the unloading of the Syrian ship Laodecia in Lebanon, which was carrying Ukrainian flour and barley stolen by the Russian Federation, is a great victory for Ukraine.

"I would like to emphasize that it was not Lebanon, it was not the state that ordered this flour and barley, it was an order from business structures," Ostash added.

The ambassador also told what the country should do in case of such thefts.

"It is very important to refer to international maritime law. Because almost all the time, these vessels that are loaded in Crimea, that follow these criminal routes, they turn off their AIS, transponders, beacons, in order to be invisible, and this is already a signal to that there is illegal work, illegal business, there is an attempt to hide something, to avoid responsibility. Therefore, it is obvious that there is a proposal to seriously study all these rules that exist within the framework of the International Maritime Organization, in order to try to put certain obstacles here," Ihor Ostash concluded.