The Razoni, in the Bosphorus Strait, Istanbul, August 3, 2022. (Credit: File photo/Yasin Akgul/AFP)
Ukrainian officials on Thursday asked Lebanon to bar a Syrian state-owned cargo ship carrying allegedly stolen Ukrainian grain from docking in Lebanon's Tripoli port, according to the Ukrainian embassy and a diplomatic note seen by Reuters.
The Ukrainian mission said in comments to Reuters that the Finikia was transporting 6,000 metric tons of corn, which it considered stolen, from the Black Sea port of Sevastopol.
In the note to Lebanon's ministries of transport, finance and economy, as well as the customs directorate, the embassy said the corn had been "stolen from storage units in the Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions."
It said the ship was "in violation of international law" and expressed its hope that Lebanon "does not allow the entry of the aforementioned cargo ship FINIKIA to Lebanese ports to sell stolen Ukrainian grain."
Lebanon's ministers of transportation and finance did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Syria's government and the Syrian General Authority for Maritime Transport, which owns the Finikia, did not immediately respond to written questions.
Lebanon's economy minister said he had not received a formal note but that the embassy had sent similar notes in the past.