The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia announced the restoration of the regime of a temporarily dangerous area in the northwestern Black Sea. Russia decided to withdraw security guarantees for shipping and close the maritime humanitarian corridor as part of a "grain deal," the ministry said in its statement.
Contrary to the declared humanitarian goals, the export of Ukrainian food was almost immediately transferred to a purely commercial basis. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, during the Black Sea Initiative, a total of 32.8 million tonnes of cargo was exported, of which more than 70% (26.3 million tonnes) were exported to countries with high and upper middle income levels, including the EU. The poorest countries, in particular Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia, accounted for less than 3%, that is, only 922,092 tonnes of food.
“If Western capitals really value the Black Sea initiative, then let them seriously think about fulfilling their obligations and actually withdrawing Russian fertilizers and food from their sanctions. Only upon receipt of concrete results, and not promises and assurances, Russia will be ready to consider restoring the “deal,” the statement says.
Previously, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian President has said that the agreements on the implementation of the "grain deal" had actually ceased to be valid. According to him, as soon as the Russian part of the agreement is fulfilled, the Russian Federation will return to its implementation.
On July 22, 2022, two interconnected agreements were signed in Istanbul, the so-called “Black Sea Initiative” on the export of Ukrainian food and Russian ammonia and the Memorandum between Russia and the UN on the normalization of Russian exports of agricultural products and fertilizers. This package was concluded at the suggestion and with the participation of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with the stated humanitarian goals of ensuring global food security, reducing the threat of hunger and helping countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America in need.
At the same time, the Russian side has repeatedly expressed claims about the insufficient export of grain from the territory of Ukraine to countries in need. In addition, the Russian Federation has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that Russian agricultural products and fertilizers have limited access to global markets.