Ship inspections restart under Ukraine grain deal – RIA

(Reuters) – Inspections of ships moving grains from Ukraine have restarted after a pause which threatened to shut down the Black Sea shipping corridor, the RIA news agency cited the Russian foreign ministry as saying on Tuesday.

A ministry official quoted by RIA blamed Monday’s interruption on Ukraine’s failure to observe agreed procedures but said the issue has been resolved.

Kyiv said on Monday the U.N.-brokered initiative allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain was in danger of shutting down after Russia blocked inspections of participating ships in Turkish waters.

Pyotr Ilyichyov, head of the international organisations department at Russia’s foreign ministry, told RIA that the passage of grain ships depended both on the weather and on how well they observed the procedures.

It remains unclear if the grain deal, in place since last July, will be renewed, as Russia complains another agreement, aimed at facilitating its own agricultural and fertilizer exports, has not been upheld.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christian Schmollinger)