Russia has officially withdrawn from a United Nations-backed deal to allow Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea.
The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July, had been extended several times, but Moscow has long complained that obstacles remained to its exports of grain and fertiliser and presented a series of demands that it said had not been met.
“As soon as the Russian part of the agreements is fulfilled, the Russian side will return to the implementation of this deal, immediately,” Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said.
According to Russian news outlets, Moscow has already notified Ukraine, Turkey and the UN that it was against the extension of the grain deal.
Moscow first pulled out of the initiative last October after drone attacks against its naval fleet in Crimea but renewed its involvement a few days later. Peskov added that the decision not to renew the deal was unrelated to an overnight attack on the bridge between Russia and Crimea, which he called a “terrorist act” and blamed on Ukraine.
The last bulk carrier to sail under the deal, which saw nearly 33m tonnes of food commodities exported, left the war-torn country’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Sunday. The initiative was last renewed on May 17 for two months.
“Today’s decision by the Russian Federation will strike a blow to people in need everywhere. But it will not stop our efforts to facilitate the unimpeded access to global markets for food products and fertilisers from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” said UN secretary general António Guterres.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he spoke with Guterres on Monday about trying to renew Black Sea shipments.
“The topic is obvious – this is another Russian attempt to weaponize hunger and destabilise the global food market. The terrorist state has endangered the lives of 400 million people in various countries that depend on Ukrainian food exports.
“The Black Sea Grain Initiative must be preserved. We have agreed with Mr. Guterres to work together with the responsible states to restore food security and food supply via the Black Sea routes,” Zelenskiy said.
