Disputed Russian grain ship moves away from Turkish coast
Disputed Russian grain ship moves away from Turkish coast
A disputed Russian-flagged cargo ship carrying grain Kyiv alleges was stolen from Ukraine has moved away from the Turkish coast nearly a week after its arrival, a marine traffic website showed Thursday.
The Zhibek Zholy moved at least 20 kilometres (12 miles) away from Turkey's Black Sea port of Karasu before apparently switching off its transponder and disappearing from view, data on the marinetraffic.com website showed.
Kyiv alleges that the 7,000-tonne vessel had set off from Ukraine's Kremlin-occupied port of Berdyansk after picking up confiscated wheat.
But Russia claims to have "nationalised" Ukrainian state assets and to be buying crops from local farmers.
NATO member Turkey has been trying to negotiate a solution that could preserve its good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv.
Ukraine has demanded that Turkey impound the vessel and return the allegedly stolen wheat.
The traffic monitor showed the ship moving across the Black Sea toward Russia.
It was not immediately clear what had happened to the wheat.
An unnamed crew members of the Zhibek Zholy told Russia's TASS news agency that the crew intended to offload the grain to another ship so as "not to lose money".
