Russia’s dispute with Ukraine’s grain shipment pact predates bridge bombing – News Block

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, designed to bring Ukrainian grain to desperate global buyers, was one of the few positive international deals to ameliorate the impact of the Ukraine war on the global economy.

But Russia withdrew on Monday. While Russia’s accession to the deal allowed Ukraine to export millions of tons of grain, the Kremlin argues, the West never implemented promised measures that would have facilitated Russia’s exports of food and fertilizer.

Russia insists that it has been ready to increase its own grain exports. But it has been hampered by difficulties related to the insurance of the ships carrying its goods, the separation of the Russian Agricultural Bank from the SWIFT financial system and other sanctions-related issues. Despite promises to lift impediments to Russian food exports, nothing has been done, the Russians say.

Furthermore, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan angered the Russians by handing over several interned Ukrainian POWs earlier this month. As a result, Erdoğan’s calls for more talks on the grain deal may now fall on deaf ears in Moscow.

“The deal has never caused us anything but damage,” says Arkady Zlochevsky, president of the Russian Grain Union, an industry group. “A one-sided deal is not profitable for us.”

At a glance, the Kremlin’s announcement on Monday of a decision to formally withdraw Russia from the deal to keep Ukraine’s grains and oilseeds flowing to a hungry world might seem like a direct response to the Ukrainian drone strike that damaged the Kerch Strait Bridge. , Crimea’s key link to the Russian mainland.

But this was probably a decision that had been a long time coming.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, despite Russia’s naval blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, was one of the few positive international agreements that helped ameliorate the impact of the near war. 17 months in the global economy. , particularly the price of basic foods.

But while Russia’s accession to the complex deal allowed Ukraine to export millions of tons of grain to the world market, Russia argues, the West never implemented promised measures that would have facilitated Russia’s exports of food and fertilizer.

Furthermore, a worsening geopolitical environment may have contributed to Moscow’s decision to terminate the deal. The Ukrainian attack on the Kerch bridge likely increased Russian determination to assert greater naval control over the Black Sea region.