Ukraine has opened "Pandora's Box" with its attacks on peaceful objects, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, quoted by TASS.
"Russia did not initiate [the strikes on the vessels]. I would like to recall President Putin's statement that we did not strike - [we did it] only after the Ukrainians began attacking our civilian infrastructure and economic objects," he noted.
Vladimir Putin's official representative stressed that the Russian military will continue to strike merchant ships in the Black Sea used to transport weapons and resources for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). At the same time, he added that this will not have negative consequences for relations between Russia and Turkey.
Earlier, Moscow's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov said that attempts to resume the grain initiative through a moratorium on attacks in the Black Sea were completely unacceptable and unrealistic. According to him, Ukraine has systematically abused the agreements.