Moscow has halted its compliance with a grain deal with Kiev, brokered by the UN and Turkey, after Ukraine launched a major drone attack on ships involved in securing safe passage for agricultural cargo, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Saturday.
In a post on its Telegram channel, the ministry said,
“In view of the terrorist attack, carried out by the Kiev regime on October 29 – with the participation of British specialists – against ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in ensuring the security of the grain corridor, the Russian side suspends participation in the implementation of agreements on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports”.
It explained that the move was prompted by “a terror attack” against the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in ensuring the security of the grain corridor. The ministry also alleged that the bombing was organized with the involvement of British military.
The Russian foreign ministry also noted that the deal has been “suspended indefinitely”, since Moscow can’t guarantee the safety of the civilian vessels amid Ukrainian attacks.
On October 29, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, under the cover of the humanitarian corridor set up for the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products, launched massive air and sea strikes using drones against the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s ships and infrastructure at the naval base in Sevastopol.
As a result of the actions (which cannot be qualified as anything other than a terrorist attack) by the Ukrainian armed forces, led by the British specialists, directed, in particular, against Russian ships ensuring the functioning of the humanitarian corridor, the Russian side can no longer guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea Grain Initiative and will suspend its implementation from today for an indefinite period. The corresponding instructions have been issued to Russian representatives in the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, which is in charge of the transportation of Ukrainian food products.
The ministry added that the relevant instructions have been issued for the Russian representatives at the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which controls the transportation of Ukrainian grains.
Meanwhile, a source in the UN noted that Russia plans to request a Security Council meeting regarding the issue.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev signaled that Moscow is ready, with Turkey’s help, to send the world’s poorest countries up to 500,000 tons of grain within the next four next months.
He noted that considering this year’s harvest, Russia “is fully ready to replace Ukrainian grain” and arrange deliveries to “all interested countries” at a reasonable price.
Grain for Europe, not the Middle East and Africa
Russian authorities had previously criticized the deal – while the accord was supposed to prevent food scarcity among the most vulnerable countries, a large amount of it ended up in Europe instead of Asia and Africa.
Commenting on the recent food deliveries, Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev noted that from 60% to 100% of the food was apprehended by the EU nations, while the situation in the developing countries had deteriorated. At the same time, he noted that Russia is ready to deliver up to 500,000 tons of grain to the developing countries.
“The grain deal not only did not solve the problems of countries in need, but even aggravated them in a sense. We can see where the ships from Ukraine were heading – Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. For some cargoes, the share of EU countries ranges from 60 to 100%. These are not the states that are experiencing a real food problem,” the minister said.
Russia earlier warned that it could quit the grain deal if an agreement to ease restrictions on its food and fertilizer exports were not implemented. Moreover, following the blast on the strategic Crimean Bridge, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if turns out that Ukraine – the country that Moscow accused of carrying out the attack – used grain corridors to transport explosives, “it would put the very existence of these corridors in question”.
The breakthrough deal between Moscow and Kiev was reached in Istanbul in July with mediation by the UN and Turkey. It aimed to unlock agricultural exports via the Black Sea from Russia and Ukraine – two of the world’s leading grain exporters – which had ground to halt due to the conflict between the two nations.
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Russian Defense Ministry Report: Terrorist Attack on the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol
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