Russia has formally withdrawn from a UN-brokered deal to export Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea, potentially imperilling tens of millions of tonnes of food exports from the war-torn country.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Monday that the agreement had “essentially stopped” and Russia would no longer co-operate with the deal.
Russia has complained ever since the UN and Turkey initially brokered the deal a year ago that western sanctions were holding up a parallel agreement to allow payments, insurance, and shipping for Moscow’s own agricultural exports.
Peskov said Russia would resume its participation in the deal “as soon as the relevant agreements are fulfilled”. A western diplomat and a UN official confirmed that Moscow had informed stakeholders on Monday that it would withdraw from the deal.
The initiative has allowed some 32.9mn metric tonnes of food to be exported by sea from Ukraine since August, more than half to developing countries, according to the co-ordination committee set up to monitor its implementation.
The Kremlin’s announcement marks the second time Russia has withdrawn from the grain deal after briefly exiting in November. It rejoined a day later under pressure from Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Yet people involved in the grain talks said Russia had appeared more set on derailing the deal in the run-up to Monday’s deadline.
The Kremlin cancelled a planned trip by Rebeca Grynspan, the UN official leading a task force on the imperilled exports, to Moscow last week at short notice, two of the people said.
Though Erdoğan said on Friday that he and Putin were “of the same mind on the extension of the Black Sea grain corridor,” his recent embrace of the west in a bid to end Turkey’s economic troubles limited his ability to broker a new extension.
Erdoğan said on Monday that he believed Putin “wants the Black Sea grain deal to continue” and that Ankara had “intensified” its diplomatic efforts. The Turkish and Russian foreign ministers will discuss the pact on Monday, Erdoğan added.
Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, said: “I strongly condemn Russia’s cynical move to terminate the Black Sea Grain initiative, despite UN and Turkey’s efforts,” she said in a statement on Twitter. “EU is working to ensure food security for the world’s vulnerable.”
An EU official said: “We see that in their communication they are still leaving the door open,” said an EU official briefed on the talks. “We see a window of opportunity to continue negotiations.
“It looks like a suspension,” they added.
Russia also lost interest in the deal after efforts to ease pathways for its own food and fertiliser exports ran aground of western sanctions.
Though the US and EU introduced carve-outs for Russia’s agricultural exporters and backdoors to facilitate payments to a large Russian state bank, Moscow complained not enough had been done to allow its exports back on the market.
“Absolutely nothing has been done — I want to stress that. It’s one-way traffic. Not a single point linked to the fact Russia has its own interests has been fulfilled,” Putin said last week.
David Harland, director of the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, which helped broker the grain talks, said: “Russia just felt that it wasn’t getting much in return, and might as well continue to squeeze Ukraine.
“Turkey could still persuade Russia to resurrect it, as it has a lot of leverage over Moscow. But it would have to lean hard.”
Russia’s complaints over the sanctions have been a key element in rallying sympathy for its position on the war from countries in the global south, particularly in Africa, which has been hit hard by the war’s impact on food and fertiliser prices.
A delegation of African leaders, headed by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, visited Kyiv and St Petersburg last month in an effort to mediate an end to the war and help secure agricultural supplies.
But Putin told Ramaphosa on Saturday that barriers to Russia’s agricultural exports had not been lifted and complained that “the main goal of the deal, which is grain supplies to countries that need it, including in Africa, has not been realised,” according to a Kremlin readout of the call.
Source: Economy - ft.com
