Russia halts Ukraine Black Sea grain exports

published on 10/30/22 11:15 AM

Russia has suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the UN-backed deal that reopened Ukraine’s ports to feed countries around the world.

Photo: Reuters

Russia has notified the UN that it was suspending participation in the Black Sea grain deal indefinitely and requested a meeting of the UN Security Council on 31 October. Moscow did that as a retaliatory measure to what it called a major Ukrainian drone attack on its fleet in the port of Sevastopol.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a U.N.-backed deal brokered in July, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw the reopening of three key Ukrainian ports.

Russia's Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukraine's 73rd Special Naval Operations Center attacked the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula with 16 drones on Saturday, and that British navy "specialists" had helped coordinate the "terrorist" attack. Moscow also accused British navy personnel of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines on September 26,, BNR correspondent Angel Grigorov reported from Moscow. London has denied these accusations.

U.S. President Joe Biden called the move "purely outrageous", while Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed the United Nations and Group of 20 (G20) major economies must make a strong response to what he called Russia's nonsensical move, warning that it would cause famine in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Russian President Vladimir Putin does not plan to discuss Moscow's decision to pull out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Earlier on Saturday, Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-backed head of the Donetsk region - one of four regions of Ukraine that Russia unilaterally proclaimed as its territory last month - announced that another 50-50 exchange of prisoners had been carried out, including military and civilians, some of them detained since the beginning of the war. Meanwhile a Ukrainian defense official said Russian troops were engaged in a massive redeployment in the south of the country.

Slovenia has sent 28 M-55S tanks to Ukraine in exchange for equipment from Germany, an agreement concluded in September between Slovenia’s Prime Minister Robert Golob and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Slovenian Ministry of Defence was quoted as saying by 24ur.com.

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Russia halts Ukraine Black Sea grain exports

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