A DISPUTED Russian-flagged cargo ship carrying grain Kyiv alleges was stolen from Ukraine was today sailing away from the Turkish coast nearly a week after its arrival. 

The marinetraffic.com website showed Zhibek Zholy moving at least 20km away from Turkiye’s Black Sea port of Karasu before apparently switching off its transponder and disappearing from view. 

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 Turkiye has been trying to negotiate a solution that could preserve its good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv.

Ukraine has demanded that Turkiye 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 crewmember of the Zhibek Zholy told Russia’s TASS news agency that the ship intended to offload the grain to another vessel so as “not to lose money”.

Turkish officials refused to comment. Ankara has not issued an official statement about the Zhibek Zholy since its arrival at Karasu last Friday.

But the Ukrainian foreign ministry said it had “invited” Turkiye’s ambassador to express an explanation for the ship’s apparent release. 

“Ignoring an appeal from Ukraine, the ship was released on the evening of July 6,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement. 

It said it is “deeply disappointed” that Turkiye had not acted on its request to seize the ship. 

“We regret that Russia’s ship Zhibek Zholy which was full of stolen Ukrainian grain, was allowed to leave Karasu port despite criminal evidence presented to the Turkish authorities,” Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Twitter. – AFP, July 7, 2022.