Athens calls for emergency IMO meeting on Ukraine
Greece has asked the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for an emergency meeting on ships and crews in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, due to the Ukraine crisis following the Russian invasion.
Shipping and Island Policy Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis spoke with IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim on Wednesday to urge him to convene the council as soon as possible.
A statement by the Shipping Ministry said Greece was one of several countries requesting the meeting, following an initiative by the French Presidency of the EU Council, as Russia has dispatched several naval units to both seas.
Besides EU countries, the request to the IMO was also made by the US and Australia.
Ukraine has shut its ports to maritime trade since February 25 and will not allow ships that were in the process of loading or unloading to sail.
At the Black Sea, four attacks on merchant ships have been reported, and sailors were injured in three of them.
