Russian Diplomat Refutes Reports About Moscow Transporting Ukrainian Grain to Syria

NUR-SULTAN (Sputnik) - Recent reports claiming that Russia has allegedly been supplying Syria with Ukrainian grain are nothing but misinformation and fake news, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev told Sputnik.

On June 2, Reuters reported, citing Ukrainian Embassy in Lebanon, that Russia had allegedly exported 100,000 tonnes of wheat from Ukraine since the start of its special military operation and had supplied it to Syria.

"This is yet another fake, unconfirmed information, which is detached from reality. The main reserves [of wheat] are in the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions, and Russian ships do not have access to these ports because they are under Ukrainian control," Lavrentyev said.

There are also no grain depots in the Russian-controlled port city of Mariupol, the diplomat added.

"Only recently — literally a week ago — the port was demined and brought to a more or less normal condition," the official said, noting that "there can be no questions about a hundred thousand tonnes of Ukrainian grain."

World leaders and international organizations have repeatedly urged Russia to allegedly unblock Ukraine's sea ports and release the grain stuck in warehouses. Moscow has denied blocking sea ports and has drawn attention to the mines deployed by Kiev in the Black Sea.