The vessel PANORMITIS, which was transporting grain likely illegally exported from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, has left the territorial waters of Israel and headed into neutral waters. This was reported by the Attorney General of Ukraine, Ruslan Kravchenko, who noted that Ukraine has thwarted the Russian Federation’s attempt to legalize the stolen grain.
This is reported by Finway
Ukrainian Measures and Israel’s Response
According to Kravchenko, the Ukrainian side carried out a series of procedural actions, resulting in Israeli competent authorities initiating the execution of a request to arrest the vessel. These actions, in the prosecutor’s assessment, indicate an awareness of the risk to the vessel and cargo regarding a possible arrest within the framework of a criminal proceeding.
“After Ukraine took a series of procedural measures, the vessel PANORMITIS left the territorial waters of the State of Israel and moved into neutral waters. Such behavior may indicate an awareness of the risk of applying measures to secure the criminal proceeding, including arrest,” he suggested.
The Attorney General emphasized that the vessel’s exit into neutral waters does not terminate the investigation and does not exempt the participants in the scheme from responsibility. Ukraine will continue to monitor the movement of all Russian vessels, using international legal mechanisms to identify all those involved in the illegal export of grain and to seize their assets.
Scope of the Problem and Diplomatic Conflict
The Office of the Attorney General previously sent a package of documents to Israel for the arrest of the mentioned vessel, which, according to Ukrainian investigators, may have been carrying a cargo that is part of a scheme to legalize illegally exported agricultural products from the occupied territories.
Since the beginning of the full-scale aggression by the Russian Federation, over 1.7 million tons of agricultural products worth more than 20 billion hryvnias have been illegally exported from the occupied territories of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recorded that Israel received several shipments of Ukrainian agricultural products that Russia illegally exported from temporarily occupied regions.
On April 27, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, responding to reports of a second vessel with stolen Ukrainian grain in the port of Israel, stated that the Israeli ambassador had been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Gidon Saar stated on social media that “diplomatic relations, especially between friendly nations, are not conducted on Twitter or in the media.”