Turkey: We warned Russia over cargo ship incident in Black Sea

Turkish authorities warned Russian counterparts after an incident involving a cargo ship in the Black sea which took place within international waters, Turkish presidency said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday.

"Following the incident with the ship counterparts from Russia are warned in an appropriate way to avoid these kinds of attempts that will escalate tensions in the Black Sea," the presidency said.

On Sunday, Russia said in a statement its Vasily Bykov patrol ship had fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship's captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection.

Merchant ships backed up in the Black Sea

Merchant ships remained backed up in lanes around the Black Sea as ports struggled to clear backlogs amid growing unease among insurers and shipping companies a day after a Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo vessel.

Kviv on Monday condemned what it called "provocative" Russian actions and called for decisive countermeasures by the international community.

Insurance industry sources said rates for additional war risk premiums remained stable on Monday, although there was a possibility of a rise if a ship was damaged or sunk.

The cost of a Black Sea war risk premium, which is typically renewed every seven days and is in addition to annual insurance expenses, was estimated at tens of thousands of dollars per ship for the voyage.