Russia announced it will no longer allow Ukraine to ship food to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia threatened by growing hunger and poverty.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Monday – the day the Black Sea Grain Initiative was set to expire – that Russia would suspend the deal. Russia's war on Ukraine has disrupted both countries' globally important food exports.
He promised Russia would "immediately return" to the deal once its demands are met to ease restrictions on insurance and shipping that have crimped its exports of food and fertilizer, though Russian wheat is being shipped in record quantities.
The U.N.-brokered agreement signed between the world body, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey on July 22, 2022 has been vital to allow food supplies reach global markets. U.N. officials say the deal to prevent attacks on ships leaving and entering Ukrainian ports has helped lower global food prices, helping the most needy.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he deeply regretted Russia's decision because the deal has been "a lifeline for global food security and a beacon of hope in a troubled world" that helped lower food prices by 23% since March and ensured safe passage of 32 million metric tons of food from three Ukrainian ports.
He noted the World Food Program, or WFP, shipped more than 725,000 tons of food from those supplies to relieve hunger in some of the hardest hit corners of the world, including Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
"Hundreds of millions of people face hunger and consumers are confronting a global cost-of-living crisis. They will pay the price," he told reporters, adding that he sent Russia's President Vladimir Putin a letter with ideas for how to keep the deal alive. "I am deeply disappointed that my proposals went unheeded."
An 'act of cruelty'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said even without Russia his nation would do everything it could to keep the grain corridor operational.
"We are not afraid. We have been approached by ship-owning companies," he said. They said that if Ukraine lets out and Turkey lets through, everyone is ready to continue supplying grain."
Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Putin was "using hunger as a weapon in this brutal war of aggression" that has global impacts.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters Russia's suspension of the deal is an "act of cruelty" while more than 345 million people suffering from what WFP describes as high levels of food insecurity.
"And we know without a shadow of doubt, that Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine has pushed millions and millions more people to the brink, especially in the Middle East and Africa," said Thomas-Greenfield.
"And while Russia plays political games, real people will suffer: the child in the Horn of Arica who is severely malnourished, the mother who will stop producing breast milk for her baby because she doesn’t have enough to eat herself," she said.
