Israel's foreign minister says it has received no evidence to support the claim that a vessel carrying grain from occupied Ukraine has reached Haifa.
19 hours ago
David Gritten
AFP
A diplomatic row has broken out over allegations that Israel is receiving shipments of grain from Russian-occupied Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "another vessel" carrying grain "stolen by Russia" had arrived at a port in Israel and was preparing to unload.
He said Israeli authorities "cannot be unaware" of what cargo was inside vessels arriving at their country's ports, and warned that their failure to prevent the grain shipments was undermining bilateral relations.
Israel's Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, said it rejected such "Twitter diplomacy" and that the Ukrainian government had not provided evidence in support of its claims.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that he "would rather not comment on this in any way or get involved in this matter".
Russia has previously denied that it is stealing Ukrainian grain.
Another vessel with a suspected cargo of such grain reached Haifa Bay on Sunday morning and was waiting its turn to enter the port, the paper reported.
On Monday night, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X that his office had summoned the Israeli ambassador in Kyiv to protest against what he described as "Israel's lack of appropriate response to Ukraine's legitimate request regarding the previous vessel that delivered stolen goods to Haifa".
"Now that another such vessel has arrived in Haifa, we once again warn Israel against accepting the stolen grain and harming our relations," he added.
Saar hit back swiftly, telling his counterpart that diplomatic relations between friendly nations were not conducted online or in the media.
"The matter will be examined," he wrote on X. "Israel is a state that abides by the rule of law with independent law enforcement authorities."
"Such schemes violate the laws of the State of Israel itself," he said.
"Ukraine has taken all necessary steps through diplomatic channels to prevent such incidents. However, we see that yet another such vessel has not been stopped.
"We expect that the Israeli authorities will respect Ukraine and refrain from actions that undermine our bilateral relations," he added.
The president also said Ukraine was preparing a "relevant sanctions package" with European countries to cover those transporting the grain and profiting from its sale.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said a Russian-flagged bulk carrier, Abinsk, was unloaded at an Israeli port in mid-April and allowed to leave despite official requests to Israeli authorities to detain the vessel and its cargo.
It also said Israeli authorities had ignored a request to take action over another vessel, Panormitis, which was approaching Haifa port.
Saar was asked for his response to Zelensky's comments during a news conference with Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric.
He explained that the vessel in question had not yet entered Haifa port and had yet to submit its documents, which meant it was not possible to verify Ukrainian claims that the document detailing the cargo had been forged.
"The Ukrainian government has not submitted a request for legal assistance. It has submitted tweets. This is required when the claims concern criminal acts committed abroad," he said. "Nor has the Ukrainian government provided evidence for its claims."
Saar added: "We reject Twitter diplomacy and we will not be influenced by that. We say again to our Ukrainian friends: If you have any evidence of theft, submit it through the appropriate channels."
European Union foreign affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni told the BBC that the bloc had "taken note of the reports that a Russian shadow fleet vessel carrying stolen Ukrainian grain has been allowed to unload at Haifa port in Israel".
"We condemn all actions that help fund Russia's illegal war effort and circumvent EU sanctions, and remain ready to target such actions by listing individuals and entities in third countries if necessary," he said.
The EU said in 2024 that there was evidence that Russia was "illegally appropriating large volumes of [grain] products in territories of Ukraine, which it illegally occupies, and routing them to its export markets as allegedly Russian products".
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