SOCHI, June 3. /TASS/. Russia is ready to support smooth export of Ukrainian grain via ports under its control, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV Channel.

"We will support peaceful carriage, we guarantee security of approaches to these ports, we will support the call of foreign vessels and their traffic in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea in any direction," the Russian leader said.

Russia will not put forward "any conditions," Putin stressed.

"Plenty of vessels are delayed in Ukrainian ports," the Russian leader noted. Dozens of them are there, according to his estimate. "They are merely locked there and, by the way, crews are held there as hostages until now," Putin added.