In another sign of closer ties between Crimea and Syria, regional officials in the port city of Sevastopol said this month they plan to sign an agreement with Tartous on July 29 to set up a permanent communication line.
"The continuous communication has already been set between the ports of Sevastopol and Tartous due to grain supplies to Syria," Vladimir Bazarov, vice-governor of Sevastopol, was quoted as saying this month after a visit to Syria.
He said Crimean ports were only operating at 20 percent to 30 percent of their capacity due to Western sanctions and wanted to find more export markets, while Syria needed products such as metal and construction materials.
At a event in Sevastopol last week to promote Crimean exports to Syria, 3,800 tonnes of grain were loaded onto a cargo vessel. The city's governor Dmitri Ovsyannikov told reporters more cargoes were expected to leave for Syria on a regular basis, supplying 200,000 tonnes of grain over the next year.
"The pace of development of cooperation in this area is at such a good level in Sevastopol only because we have port capacity and the Black Sea fleet is based in Tartous, thus it is easier for us to organise these logistics," Ovsyannikov said.
Two officials said as Syria could not pay for the grain so it would send olive oil and vegetables to Crimea in exchange.
Ukraine says shipments from Crimea violate Western sanctions. It has complained to the U.N.'s London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) and asked member states to de-list ships involved.
"The cat-and-mouse game around illegal shipping activity in Crimea is far from over," Natalia Galibarenko, Ukraine's permanent representative to the IMO, told Reuters.
"The northern part of the Black Sea has literally turned into a 'grey zone' for international shipping," she said.
Crimea's Deputy Prime Minister Muradov said it did not recognise Western sanctions.
