EU urges Russia to reinstate Black Sea deal over Ukrainian grain

The EU urged Russia on Sunday to reverse its decision to pull out of a UN-brokered grain deal, a move that undermined efforts to ease a global food crisis and which Ukraine said Moscow planned well in advance.

Moscow suspended its participation in the Black Sea deal on Saturday, effectively cutting shipments from Ukraine, one of the world’s top grain exporters, in response to what it called a major Ukrainian drone attack earlier in the day on its fleet near the port of Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea.

“Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea deal puts at risk the main export route of much-needed grain and fertilisers to address the global food crisis caused by its war against Ukraine,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Twitter.

“The EU urges Russia to [reverse] its decision.”

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden called the move “outrageous”, saying it would increase starvation, while secretary of state Antony Blinken accused Moscow of weaponising food. On Sunday, Russia’s ambassador to Washington snapped back, saying the US response is “outrageous” and makes false assertions about Moscow’s move.

Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine attacked the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol with 16 drones early on Saturday, and claimed that British naval “specialists” helped co-ordinate what it called a terrorist attack.

Russia said it had repelled the attack but that the ships targeted were involved in ensuring the grain corridor out of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow used the explosions 220km away from the grain corridor as a “false pretext” for a long-intended move.

Inventing attacks

“Russia has planned this well in advance,” Kuleba said on Twitter. “Russia took the decision to resume its hunger games long ago and now tries to justify it,” he said, without offering any evidence.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff accused Russia on Saturday of inventing attacks on its own facilities.

Kyiv often accuses Russia of using the Black Sea Fleet to fire cruise missiles at Ukrainian civilian targets, a charge supported by some military analysts, who say that makes the fleet a legitimate military target.

Moscow also accused the British navy of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month, a claim that London said was false and designed to distract from Russian military failures in Ukraine.

Russia’s departure from the grain deal is a new development in an eight-month war that began with Russia’s invasion in February and that has recently been dominated by a Ukrainian counteroffensive and Russian drone and missile attacks that have destroyed more than 30% of Ukraine’s generating capacity and hit populated areas.

Each side has accused the other of being prepared to detonate radioactive bombs.

Zelensky called for a strong response from the UN and Group of 20 (G20) major economies to what he called Russia’s nonsensical move on the grain deal.

“This is a completely transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine for Africa, for Asia,” Zelensky said in a video address on Saturday. He said that Russia should be kicked out of the G20.

The grain deal had restarted shipments from Ukraine, allowing sales on world markets, targeting the prewar level of 5-million tonnes exported from Ukraine monthly.

Serious problems

More than 9-million tonnes of maize, wheat, sunflower products, barley, rapeseed and soy have been exported under the July 22 deal.

But ahead of its November 19 expiry, Russia said repeatedly that there were serious problems with it. Ukraine complained that Moscow blocked almost 200 ships from picking up grain cargoes.

When the agreement was signed, the UN World Food Programme said about 47-million people were suffering “acute hunger” as the war halted Ukrainian shipments, causing global food shortages and sending prices soaring.

The deal ensured safe passage in and out of Odesa and two other Ukrainian ports in what an official called a “de facto ceasefire” for the ships and facilities covered.

Russia told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday in a letter, seen by Reuters, that it was suspending the deal for an “indefinite term” because it could not “guarantee safety of civilian ships” travelling under the pact.

Moscow asked the UN Security Council to meet on Monday to discuss the Sevastopol attack, deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy wrote on Twitter.

More than 10 outbound and inbound vessels waited to enter the humanitarian corridor on Saturday and there was no agreement for the movement of vessels on Sunday, Amir Abdulla, the UN co-ordinator for the deal, said on Saturday.

Reuters