A Russian warship on Sunday fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the Black Sea, which is the first time when Moscow fired on a merchant shipping beyond Ukraine since exiting a landmark UN-brokered grain deal last month, reported Reuters. In July this year, Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export agricultural produce via the Black Sea. Now, Russia said that it deemed all ships heading to Ukrainian waters to be potentially carrying weapons.
According to Reuters, in a statement, Russia said that its Vasily Bykov patrol ship fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship's captain did not respond to a request to halt for an inspection.
Russia added that the vessel was making its way toward the Ukrainian port of Izmail. Reuters mentioned that Refinitiv shipping data showed the ship was currently near the coast of Bulgaria and heading toward the Romanian port of Sulina.
"To forcibly stop the vessel, warning fire was opened from automatic weapons," the Russian defence ministry said, as per Reuters. It added that the Russian military boarded the vessel with the help of a Ka-29 helicopter.
"After the inspection group completed its work on board, the Sukru Okan continued on its way to the port of Izmail," the defence ministry said.
Meanwhile, as per Reuters, a Turkish defence ministry official said he heard an incident had taken place involving a ship heading for Romania, and that Ankara was looking into it.
Mykhailo Podolyak, senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called it a "clear violation of international law of the sea, an act of piracy and a crime against civilian vessels of a third country in the waters of other states."
"This precedent with the attempt to introduce a "Letter of Marque and Reprisal" requires clear legal fixation, identification of all persons and recognition of the fact of the crime by the international community. Ukraine will draw all the necessary conclusions and choose the best possible response," Podolyak tweeted.
Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for the southern military command, said that the Russian statement had not been confirmed by other official sources.
"I believe that attention should be drawn to this and the peculiarities of hybrid warfare should be kept in mind," she said, as quoted by Reuters.
"This statement could be a signal to all civilian vessels in the Black Sea," she said, adding that Russia was trying to assert its right to stop a ship or deploy aircraft in the Black Sea and "face no consequences."