ANKARA, August 1. /TASS/. The first vessel laden with grain will depart this morning from Odessa, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said, citing the Joint Coordination Center.
"An agreement was reached that the Razoni ship under the flag of Sierra Leone, laden with corn, will depart from the port of Odessa at 08.30 am local time (same time as Moscow’s - TASS) and will sail to Lebanon," the ministry said.
On August 1, Ibrahim Kalin, official Turkish presidential spokesperson, reported about the possible beginning of Ukrainian grain exports.
As reported earlier, the first caravan with Ukrainian grain will consist of 16 dry cargo ships. They will reach Turkish territorial waters on August 3. The caravan will be tracked by drones. Also, representatives of the Istanbul Joint Coordination Center (JCC) will use satellites to track the passage of ships with grain. The center’s representatives will search the vessels at the anchorage near the Bosporus.
A package of documents geared towards resolving the issue of food and fertilizer supplies on global markets was signed on July 22 in Istanbul. Under the Russia-UN memorandum, the United Nations undertakes to work toward lifting anti-Russian restrictions hampering the exports of agricultural products and fertilizers. Another document envisages a mechanism of exporting grain from Ukraine-controlled Black Sea ports. An agreement between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations provides for the establishment of a four-party coordination center to search ships carrying grain in order to prevent weapons smuggling and avoid any false flag.