Exclusive-Russian-annexed Crimea showers Syria with wheat, Ukraine cries foul

FILE PHOTO: A view shows the ship "Laodicea" docked at port of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, July 29, 2022. REUTERS/Walid Saleh

LONDON/DUBAI/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Using a low-profile fleet of ships under U.S. sanctions, Syria has this year sharply increased wheat imports from the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea that Russia annexed from Ukraine, a sign of tightening economic ties between two allies shunned by the West.

Wheat sent to Syria from the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea increased 17-fold this year to just over 500,000 tonnes, previously unreported Refinitiv shipping data shows, to make up nearly a third of the country's total imports of the grain.