Russia is suspending the United Nations brokered grain export deal with Ukraine after drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol
The Defence Minister of Russia – Sergei Shoigu has announced that Russia is suspending the United Nations (U.N.) brokered grain export deal with Ukraine after drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Russia has accused Ukraine of the attack. Ukraine said that Russia invented fictitious terrorist attacks on its own facilities in Crimea to blackmail Ukraine. Russia claimed 16 aerial and maritime drones were destroyed and that only a minesweeper had sustained damage.
A Statement from the Ministry of Defence, Russia read, “Taking into account the act of terrorism committed by the Kyiv regime with the participation of British experts on October 29 this year against the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civil vessels involved in the security of the ‘grain corridor,’ the Russian side suspends its participation in the implementation of the agreements on the export of agricultural products from the Ukrainian ports.”
Speaking on the occasion, the President of Ukraine – Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “Why is it that some handful of individuals somewhere in the Kremlin can decide whether there will be food on the tables of people in Egypt or in Bangladesh?”
Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately delaying the passage of ships, creating a queue of more than 170 vessels. Russia has also accused United Kingdom (U.K.) of helping Ukraine plan the Crimean drone attacks.
Responding to accusations, the Ministry of Defence, U.K. said, “To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale. This invented story, says more about arguments going on inside the Russian government than it does about the west.”
Russia and Ukraine had signed the deal in July 2022 where Russia agreed to unblock the ports on the Black Sea to allow the export of foodgrains from Ukraine across the world. As of now, Ukraine has exported 9 million tonnes of grains.
The deal is set to expire in November 2022. The West has already anticipated that Russia will not extend the deal. The Foreign Minister of Russia – Sergey Lavrov said that there is a lot of work to do before the agreement could be renewed. The President of Russia – Vladimir Putin has said that Russia would stop the export of Ukraine foodgrains if the attacks continue on Russia.
The World Food Programme estimated that tens of millions of people moved into a stage of acute hunger as a consequence of the Ukraine war, and Western officials have accused Russia of using food as a weapon during its invasion.
