ANKARA, July 3. /TASS/. A Turkish customs officer in the port of Karasu has refrained from either confirming or refuting Kiev’s allegations about the detention of a Russian cargo ship.
"As of now, I can neither confirm nor refute this information. I can only say that there is no such ship at the port. But I don’t rule out that it may be staying in open waters near the port of Karasu," he told TASS on Sunday.
When asked whether any ships were detained in recent days, he said he "knows nothing about it."
According to the Dogan News Agency, the Russian Zhibek Zholy cargo ship delivered grain to the port of Karasu to be further transported to Konya in central Turkey by trucks.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Turkey Vasily Bodnar said earlier on Sunday that a Russian-flagged cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain had been detained at Kiev’s request by the Turkish customs authorities. He said that the ship’s fate would be decided at a meting of investigators on July 4.