Lebanon allows a ship accused by Ukraine of stealing grain to leave the country

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A high-ranking judicial source told Reuters that the Lebanese Public Prosecutor lifted the seizure order on a ship anchored in Lebanon accused by Ukraine of transporting stolen flour and barley, and allowed it to sail after investigations concluded that there were no criminal offenses. The source added that the ship is still unable to leave currently due to a second detention order issued by a judge in the northern city of Tripoli, where the ship is docked, on Monday. The judge who previously issued the detention order told Reuters that the order issued on Monday only lasted 72 hours. An official at the Ukrainian embassy in Beirut said he could not comment at this time and that the embassy would hold a press conference on Wednesday. Ukraine said the Syrian-flagged ship was carrying about 10,000 tonnes of flour and barley, a shipment Kyiv says Russia stole from Ukrainian warehouses following its invasion of the country in February. The Russian embassy in Lebanon said it had no information about the shipment. Moscow has previously denied stealing any Ukrainian grain. An official from the company that owns the cargo denied that it was stolen and said the ship would sail to Syria if it was allowed to leave the port of Tripoli. The ship arrived in Lebanon on July 27, and two days later, the public prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat, ordered her detention pending investigation, following a protest from the Ukrainian embassy and other Western countries. On Monday, Ukraine asked Lebanon to cooperate in a criminal investigation into the ship launched by a Ukrainian judge. The Ukrainian authorities say that the ship headed to a port closed to international navigation in the Russian-occupied Crimea, where the cargo was loaded, before it sailed to Lebanon. Turkey said that under the UN-brokered safe passage agreement on July 22, the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to global markets from its Black Sea ports since the Russian invasion is due to arrive in Istanbul on Tuesday night. The same vessel, flying the Sierra Leone flag, is scheduled to reach its final destination in Tripoli, Lebanon, after undergoing inspections in Istanbul by officials from the United Nations, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.

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