Following a Saturday attack on the Russian fleet in Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Ukraine on Monday to ask for assurances over the security of ships travelling along the grain export route. He also accused Kiev of being a “threat.”
In a news conference, Putin stated that Ukraine “should assure that there would be no threat to civil ships.”
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The (Sputnik) agency also attributed to the Russian president that drones, Moscow confirmed that it attacked the ships of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, used a pass to export the grain.
Putin stressed that Russia has not announced that it would withdraw from the Ukrainian grain export agreement across the Black Sea signed in Istanbul last July, but rather suspended its participation in it.
According to the agency, barely 3 to 5 percent of grain shipments went to countries in need, while 35 percent of the wheat shipped under the deal went to European nations.
In a recent announcement, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that Ukrainian drones had attacked Black Sea Fleet ships as well as commercial ships in Sevastopol.
The night of October 29, when Russia claimed that its ships were attacked in the Gulf of Sevastopol in the Crimea, forcing it to halt its work with the Ukrainian grain export agreement, no ships were sailing in the grain corridor in the Black Sea, according to Martin Griffiths, the UN’s relief coordinator, who made the announcement on Monday.
In a same vein, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu received a message from Turkish Defense Minister Khulusi Akar on Monday urging Moscow to reconsider its involvement in the deal that the UN mediated the restart of grain exports from Ukraine.
According to a statement from the Turkish Ministry of Defense on the conversation between the two ministers, Akar stressed to Shoigu how crucial it is for the grain arrangement to continue independently of the war in Ukraine.
The Turkish minister continued by saying that his nation would continue to fulfil its obligations under the agreement that had been struck in Istanbul in July under UN supervision.
The arrangement, which was reached on July 22, provided a secure route for the restart of exports from three Ukrainian factories and assisted in defusing the crisis by sending more than 9. 5 million tonnes of soybeans, turnip seeds, barley, sunflower goods, corn, and wheat.
The UN Security Council met on Monday at Russia’s request to discuss the deal for the shipment of grain from Ukraine, and the Russian representative there spoke about “the Sefastopol offensive intended at sabotaging the grain accord.”
The Russian delegate continued, stating that “Ukraine uses grain corridors for particular purposes,” and reiterating Moscow’s willingness to “continue distributing food at a low cost.”
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The grain ships “must be allowed without inspection,” the Russian representative to the UN said. “.
Putin accuses Ukraine of threatening Russian ships … and verifies that the grain agreement has been suspended
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