Ukraine says inspections of ships trading grain in the Black Sea are resuming
Vessel inspections are resumed under a UN-brokered deal for the protected export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Wednesday.
He wrote on Facebook that “ship inspections are resumed despite attempts by the Russian Federation to disrupt the agreement.”
Russia’s RIA news agency reported that the inspections resumed after two days of talks, citing the press office of the UN coordinator.
A team inspects products on a ship carrying wheat from Ukraine to Afghanistan after an inspection in the open sea around Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district, Turkiye, January 24, 2023.
TUR Ministry of National Defense | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Kubrakov is in Turkey to debate the status of the Black Sea Grains Initiative, which was agreed by Russia and Ukraine last July to assist ease the global food crisis.
Moscow says it has only agreed to increase the contract until May 18. Kiev and the United Nations say the deal still has 60 days to conclude and are in search of a deal to make sure it goes ahead. Kiev claims that Russian inspectors stopped letting ships that were imagined to carry grain from Ukraine.
Agriculture Minister Mykola Solski said on Wednesday that Moscow was creating increasing difficulties for Ukraine at a time when three eastern European countries banned imports of Ukrainian grain and food products.
“After all, the Russians couldn’t help but make the most of these nuances on the western (Ukrainian) border,” Solsky told reporters.
The RIA quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday as saying that Ukraine and the UN are causing difficulties in ship inspections.
Ukraine and Poland reached an agreement on Tuesday to unblock Ukrainian grain transit from Friday, but import bans remain in place in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
— Reuters
Russia’s disinformation campaign involves ‘narrative washing’, says UK
The UK Ministry of Defense said that Russia’s pervasive “disinformation campaign” since the starting of its invasion of Ukraine consisted of promoting unverified information as fact at the mainstream level.
The Russian state systematically used information operations as a serious element of its strategy during the war, the ministry noted in its intelligence release on Wednesday on Twitter, noting that it “cultivated multiple channels and intermediaries to spread disinformation: intentionally creating and sharing false or manipulated information.”
Peter Cade | Icon | Getty Images
One element of Russian disinformation is “narrative laundering”, the UK said, noting that this happens when “Russia promotes information from intermediaries or unverified social media sources, which then leaks into more mainstream or state-owned media outlets.”
That is to obfuscate the source of the information, as stated, “to make it easier for the Russian state to distance itself from the message. It then promotes misleading parts of the narrative while disguising its vested interest.”
The ministry noted that the current priorities of Russian state actors almost actually include discrediting the government in Ukraine and reducing international support for the country.
— Holly Ellyatt
Ukraine’s low-cost exports are causing a rift amongst its European allies
A farmer and member of the AgroUnia union inspects unsold corn grain warehouses on a farm in Sedziejów, on Monday, April 17, 2023.
Bartek Sadowski | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Western countries have tried to assist Ukraine sustain vital exports of grain and agricultural products since the starting of the war with Russia, but trouble is mounting in Eastern Europe, where Ukraine’s excess of plentiful and cheaper products is hurting the interests of domestic suppliers.
Following a wave of growing anger from their very own producers, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have imposed temporary import bans on Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products in recent days, saying they’ve created unfair competition and trading conditions for local farmers.
Read more on tensions here: Ukraine’s low-cost grain causes a clumsy rift with its European neighbors and allies
— Holly Ellyatt
US can ‘cheat’ at any time, says Russian foreign minister
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that “the United States can cheat at any time,” claiming that Russia experienced this as NATO’s western military alliance expanded eastward.
“I need to emphasise that everybody knows thoroughly that the United States can cheat at any time and it cheats rather more often than it keeps its own guarantees, its own proposals,” Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto.
Lavrov claimed that this deception was noticed when former presidents of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin “were assured that NATO wouldn’t expand,” he added.
Russia has long complained that at the end of the Cold War and in the Nineties it was deceived by Western nations into believing that NATO wouldn’t expand eastwards towards its territory.
Analysts say, nonetheless, that the USSR has never received a proper guarantee to limit NATO enlargement, and that the “treason narrative” is meant to evoke anti-Western sentiment.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left) leaves the Miraflores Palace after meeting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (right) in Caracas, Venezuela, April 18, 2023.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Lavrov’s latest comments, reported by the state news agency Tass and RIA Novosti news site, translated by Google, arrive as she embarks on a Latin American tour this week, a visit seen as a approach to strengthen Russia’s alliances with countries in the region.
Lavrov characterised Russia as a “world champion” in terms of the variety of sanctions imposed by the West and said that Moscow would share its experience of avoiding their influence with Venezuela, a rustic that has been subject to Western sanctions for several years for various reasons.
“I’m convinced that our experience can even be useful to our Venezuelan friends, because we at the moment are world champions in terms of the variety of sanctions and we’re quickly gaining experience. So we’ll share it with our Venezuelan colleagues,” Lavrov said.
— Holly Ellyatt
The G-7 condemns the Russian threat to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, the communiqué reads
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during the Presidency press conference at the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Karuizawa, Japan, April 18, 2023.
Eugene Hoshiko | swimming pool | AFP | Getty Images
The G7 reiterated the bloc’s support for Ukraine and criticized Russia’s threat to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus. announcement on Tuesday.
Any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine would risk “serious consequences”, the ministers said after a gathering in Karuizawa, Japan.
The G-7 also condemned the Russian “occupation and militarization” of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant as a threat to nuclear safety. Russia’s repeated shelling of power plants last 12 months raised concerns from the United Nations nuclear watchdog over the risk of a serious nuclear disaster.
The G-7 added that it’ll proceed to tighten sanctions against Russia and take motion against third parties that support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
— Audrey Wan
Finland completes its first joint naval exercise as a NATO member
NATO has conducted its first-ever joint exercise with Finland since the country joined the military alliance earlier this month. German and Portuguese ships participated with the Finnish Navy in exercises in the Gulf of Finland.
Finland has made a proposal to hitch the world’s strongest military alliance after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
— Amanda Macias
Zelensky meets with soldiers at the front in Donetsk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday visited the frontline positions of the country’s armed forces in the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, certainly one of the hot spots of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
Ukrainian Presidency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited soldiers on the front line in the Donetsk region.
“It’s a pleasure for me to see you, shake strong hands and know that you simply hold the way forward for Ukraine in your hands. I’m pleased with this meeting. I’m proud that there are such strong people in Ukraine,” Zelensky said. he said, in keeping with a reading provided by the Ukrainian government.
“Things occur due to you. Watch out. Our future is dependent upon you,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday visited the frontline positions of the country’s armed forces in the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, certainly one of the hot spots of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
Ukrainian Presidency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday visited the frontline positions of the country’s armed forces in the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, certainly one of the hot spots of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
Ukrainian Presidency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday visited the frontline positions of the country’s armed forces in the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, certainly one of the hot spots of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
Ukrainian Presidency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
During his stay in Donetsk, Zelensky also met with wounded soldiers at an area hospital that treats soldiers with combat injuries.
“Thanks in your service. I wish you a speedy recovery. All the best,” Zelensky said, in keeping with a reading from his visit. He also presented some soldiers with service medals.
— Amanda Macias
The Minister of Defense of Ukraine presents French combat vehicles ready to be used on the battlefield
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has released a video showing the French AMX-10 armored combat vehicles which are to make their combat debut with the Ukrainian marines.
“We took it for a spin with our fighters and agreed to call the AMX-10 a “sniper rifle with fast wheels,” Reznikov said in a tweet.
“Thanks to my colleague Sébastien Lecornu i [President] Emmanuel Macron, with whom I had the opportunity to satisfy and talk about our priorities and needs. And after all, thanks to all the people of France in your strong support.”
— Amanda Macias
Ukraine denies reports that Russia resumed inspections of ships exporting grain
Ukraine rejects reports that Russian inspectors have resumed inspections of export ships under the Black Sea grain deal.
“Nothing has been resolved. There are not any inspections,” an anonymous Ukrainian official told Reuters.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian state news agency RIA cited a Russian Foreign Ministry official as saying that Russian inspections of grain ships leaving Ukraine had resumed.
The deal allowing the protected export of Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea was renewed in mid-March for a minimum of 60 days – just half the intended period – after Russia warned that an additional extension beyond mid-May would depend upon the lifting of some Western sanctions.
An agricultural powerhouse, Ukraine was certainly one of the world’s largest exporters of grain and other products reminiscent of corn and sunflower oil before the Russian invasion. The Russian naval blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has driven up the price of those commodities around the world and fueled fears of food crises in parts of the developing world.
— Natasha Turak