Exhibit 12.1
CERTIFICATION
OF THE PRINCIPAL
EXECUTIVE OFFICER
I, Semiramis Paliou, certify that:
1. I have reviewed this annual report on Form 20-F of Diana Shipping
Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2022;
2.
Based
on my
knowledge,
this report
does not
contain
any untrue
statement of
a material
fact
or omit
to state
a
material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of
the circumstances under which such statements were
made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3. Based
on my
knowledge,
the financial
statements, and
other financial
information
included
in this
report, fairly
present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations
and cash flows of the company as of, and
for, the periods presented in this report;
4. The company’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls
and
procedures
(as
defined
in
Exchange
Act
Rules
13a-15(e)
and
15d-15(e))
and
internal
control
over
financial
reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the
company and have:
(a)
Designed
such
disclosure
controls
and
procedures,
or
caused
such
disclosure
controls
and
procedures
to
be
designed under our supervision, to
ensure that material information
relating to the company, including its
consolidated
subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is
being prepared;
(b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial
reporting to
be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and
the
preparation
of
financial
statements
for
external
purposes
in
accordance
with
generally
accepted
accounting
principles;
(c) Evaluated the
effectiveness of
the company’s
disclosure controls
and procedures and
presented in this
report our
conclusions about the
effectiveness of the
disclosure controls and
procedures, as of the
end of the period
covered by
this report based on such evaluation; and
(d) Disclosed in this report any change in the company’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
the period
covered by
the annual
report that
has materially
affected, or
is reasonably
likely to
materially affect,
the
company’s internal control over
financial reporting; and
5. The
company’s
other
certifying
officer(s)
and
I have
disclosed,
based on
our
most recent
evaluation
of internal
control over financial
reporting, to the
company’s auditors and the
audit committee of
the company’s board of
directors
(or persons performing the equivalent functions):
(a) All
significant deficiencies
and material
weaknesses in
the design
or operation
of internal
control over
financial
reporting
which
are reasonably
likely
to adversely
affect
the company’s
ability to
record,
process,
summarize
and
report financial information; and
(b) Any fraud,
whether or not material,
that involves management
or other employees
who have a significant
role in
the company’s internal
control over financial reporting.
Date: March 27, 2023
/s/ Semiramis Paliou
Semiramis Paliou
Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer)