Ankara has shared the
text of a memorandum with both Moscow and Kyiv designed to find a solution to
the growing number of strikes on ships. Turkey was instrumental in an earlier
grain corridor agreement from a couple of years ago. Recent US efforts to cool the maritime
conflict have failed to produce a broader pause. Russian foreign minister
Sergei Lavrov said this month that a Russian-Ukrainian ban on attacks against
ships carrying civilian cargoes would be impossible to monitor. Yesterday (17 Sep) a Tanzanian-flagged
merchant vessel heading towards a Ukrainian port was struck by what Kyiv said
was a Russian drone. The captain was killed and three other crewmembers
injured. Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said the condition of the vessel was
still being assessed. Turkey has its own growing list of casualties to
contend with. The owner of the Turkish-flagged bulker Reyhan Sari, surviving
crewmembers and the family of a sailor killed in a July attack near Novorossiysk
have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court in The Hague
seeking an investigation into the strike. The 36,075 dwt ship had loaded coal
at Taman and was heading for Turkey when it was hit. One seafarer was killed
and several others injured.