Dubai, United Arab Emirates –
The first grain shipment to leave Ukraine under a wartime deal appears to have ended up in Syria, even as Damascus remains a close ally of Moscow, satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press show on Tuesday.
The arrival of the cargo ship Razoni in Syria comes after the Kyiv government hailed the ship’s initial departure from Odessa port as a sign that Ukraine could safely ship its barley, corn, sunflower oil and wheat to Syria. a hungry world where global food prices have skyrocketed in part due to war.
But his arrival at the Syrian port of Tartus shows how complicated and murky international trade and shipping can be. Syria has already received Ukrainian grain taken from Russian-occupied territory amid Moscow’s war on Kyiv.
Planet Labs PBC images analyzed by AP showed the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni in port just before 11 a.m. Monday. The boat was right next to the port’s grain silos, key to the nation’s supply of wheat.
Data from Razoni’s Automatic Identification System tracker shows it had been off since Friday, when it was off the coast of Cyprus, according to ship tracking website MarineTraffic.com. Ships are supposed to keep their AIS trackers on, but ships that want to hide their movements often turn them off. Those who go to Syrian ports do so regularly.
The Razoni could be identified on the satellite image by its color, length, and width, as well as the four large white cranes on its deck. Samir Madani, co-founder of the oil shipping website TankerTrackers.com and an expert in tracking ships through satellite imagery, similarly identified the vessel from the image.
The Financial Times first reported on the satellite image.
The Razoni, loaded with 26,000 tons of corn, left Odessa on August 1. The cargo ship was the first to leave a Ukrainian-controlled port in the country since Russia launched the war in February. As part of the deal, a United Nations coordination center in Istanbul with staff from Turkey, Russia and Ukraine monitors the shipments to make sure they travel safely through the Black Sea, which has mines in some areas and has been in fight during the conflict.
But Lebanon, which was Razoni’s presumed destination, ended up not accepting the shipment, even as it struggles with its own economic crisis. Lebanese media reported that after a delay of months due to the war in Ukraine, the merchant who had bought the shipment no longer wanted it.
The ship departed from Mersin, Turkey, before heading to Syria.
When asked about the Razoni, the UN Joint Coordination Center said in a statement that “after departing vessels clear inspection in Istanbul, the JCC stops monitoring them.”
“Authorized vessels then proceed to their final destinations, whatever they may be,” the center said.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian Embassy in Beirut referred to an earlier statement that the Razoni shipment was no longer the responsibility of Kyiv.
“Our task has been to reopen seaports for grain loading and it has been done,” the statement said.
An official contacted by phone Tuesday at the port of Tartus declined to comment. Syria’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tartus, on the Mediterranean Sea, is about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Syria continues to be sanctioned by the West for the killings and abuses of civilians during the civil war, although the West has exempted food supplies. Russian military support has been key to keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Syria has recognized the Russian-backed breakaway eastern Ukraine regions of Donetsk and Lugansk as sovereign entities, prompting Kyiv to break diplomatic ties with Damascus.
Since the beginning of this year, ships have been transporting Ukrainian food from Russian-occupied territory to Syria. In May, satellite images showed the Russian-flagged Matros Pozynich docked in Latakia, Syria. Ukraine said the ship had 27,000 tons of grain that Russia stole from it and initially tried to sell to Egypt, which refused to accept the cargo.
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Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.