Russia may employ naval mines to attack civilian vessels in the Black Naval, including by planting them on the approach to Ukrainian ports, the British government said on Wednesday.
In July, Russia backed out of an agreement that would have allowed Ukraine to safely move food products out through its primary export corridor.
Ukraine replied by establishing a temporary humanitarian corridor for cargo ships, and numerous ships have subsequently left Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
According to British intelligence, Russia is attempting to target civilian shipping traveling through the humanitarian corridor in order to hinder Ukrainian grain exports.
“Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely blaming Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea”, the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom stated in a statement.
“By releasing our assessment of this intelligence, the UK seeks to expose Russia’s tactics to deter any such incident from occurring”, the statement reads.
Last month, Britain accused Russia of launching a missile attack on a civilian cargo ship docked in the Black Sea on August 24 that was successfully intercepted by Ukrainian defences.
Britain said it was collaborating with Ukraine and other partners to improve shipping safety, and that it was using its information, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets to monitor Russian action in the Black Sea.
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