Russia said on Monday it was ending its participation in a deal that allowed Ukraine to export its grain by sea despite a wartime blockade, revising a deal considered important to keep food prices stable around the world.
The announcement appears to be the most serious blow to the year-old accord that has been a rare example of fruitful dialogue between warring nations, and has helped to alleviate some of the global fallout from Russia’s full-scale aggression. Ukraine is a major producer of grain and other foodstuffs, and the United Nations has warned that some countries in the Middle East and Africa face famine if Kyiv cannot export its goods through the Black Sea.
A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters on Monday that the agreement was “suspended,” but added that the decision was not connected to the attack hours earlier on the Kerch Strait Bridge linking Russia in occupied Crimea. Russian officials blamed Ukraine for the bridge attack, but Kyiv did not respond.
Speaking about the grain deal, Mr. Peskov said: “As soon as Russia’s part is fulfilled, the Russian side will immediately return to the implementation of that deal.”
Russia has repeatedly complained about the deal, which it considers one-sided in favor of Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia on Monday issued a statement which emphasized its objections, including what it described as continued “Ukrainian provocations and attacks against Russian civilian and military facilities” in the Black Sea area, and said the United Nations and of Ukraine’s Western allies to Russia’s demands.
“Only upon receiving concrete results, and not promises and assurances, Russia will be ready to consider restoring the ‘deal,'” the statement said.
The deal, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative and brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, is set to expire on Monday.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said he would talk to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin about the deal and expressed hope that he would agree to rejoin it.
“Despite today’s statement, I believe that the president of the Russian Federation, my friend Putin, wants the continuation of this humanitarian bridge,” Mr. Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul.
Last week, the secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, sent a letter containing proposals for Mr. Putin in an effort to meet Russia’s conditions for extending the deal. UN and Turkish negotiators spent the weekend waiting for a response from Moscow as the clock ticked down. Grain exports from Ukrainian ports dropped to almost zero in the days before the deal expired.
The deal successfully eliminated the shortages that resulted from the blockades in the early months of the war, which caused wheat prices to rise around the world. This allowed Ukraine to resume exporting millions of tons of grain that had languished for months, and it was renewed several times, most recently in May.
But Moscow has argued that while the deal has benefited Ukraine, Western sanctions have restricted the sale of Russian agricultural products. In an effort to meet Russia’s demands, Mr. Guterres sent Mr. Putin proposals that he said would “remove obstacles affecting financial transactions” through Russia’s agricultural bank while allowing shipments of Ukrainian grains to continue.
In addition to its hope for smoother financial transactions, Russia has looking for guarantees which will facilitate the export of its own grain and fertilizers, and the reopening of the ammonia pipeline that crosses Ukraine.
Ukraine has exported 32.8 million tons of grain and other food since the initiative began, according to UN data. Under the agreement, ships are allowed to pass Russian vessels that have effectively blockaded Ukraine’s ports since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The ships are being inspected off the coast of Istanbul, in part to make sure they are not carrying a weapon.
Last year, Russia stopped participating in inspections that were part of the agreement, only to rejoin within days.
Safak Timur contributed reporting.
