Ukraine offered Lebanon to buy barley and flour from the bulk carrier arrested in the port of Tripoli
Ukraine officially offered Lebanon to purchase barley and wheat flour, which the Russian invaders stole from the occupied territories and transported on the bulk carrier Laodicea (flag — Syria). This was reported by the Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon.
In agreement with the Ukrainian owners of the products on board the Laodicea, as well as in order to avoid spoiling the looted grain and preserve it in Lebanon, the Embassy of Ukraine made an offer to the Government of Lebanon to purchase the above-mentioned goods," the embassy's message on Twitter stated.
Lebanon is offered to buy cargo at prices that are half the market price: flour — $350 per ton, barley — $180 per ton.
On July 31, the Lebanese prosecutor's office seized the ship Laodicea, which is in the port of Tripoli, loaded with barley and wheat flour, pending an investigation into the origin of the cargo, which could have been stolen by the Russian occupiers in Ukraine. On August 2, the arrest was extended for another three days.
At the end of last week, the Ukrainian court issued a decision to arrest the Syrian vessel Laodice, which arrived at the Lebanese port of Tripoli on July 27 with Ukrainian grain. According to the Ukrainian side, the ship was spotted on July 4 while loading in temporarily occupied Feodosia. Ukrainian grain was delivered from the occupied Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.
According to European database Equasis, Laodicea is owned by Siria Mar Shipping. Both the company and the vessel came under US sanctions in 2015 for their ties to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Laodicea is one of three Syrian vessels that were spotted transporting Ukrainian grain stolen by the occupiers.