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 further said that the Russian president had verified that drones had attacked Russian fleet ships in the Black Sea and had utilised a pass to export food.
Putin emphasised that Russia has stopped its participation in the Black Sea grain export agreement inked in Istanbul last July, not indicated its intention to leave 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.
The Russian Ministry of Defense had recently announced an attack that said that Ukrainian drones launched on ships belonging to the Black Sea Fleet and civil 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 added that his country will continue to play its role under the agreement that was signed in Istanbul last July under the auspices of UN.
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 tons of corn, wheat, sunflower products, barley, turnip seeds and soybeans.
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 added that “Ukraine uses grain corridors for special purposes,” stressing Moscow’s readiness “to continue delivering food at cheap prices.
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The grain ships “must be allowed without inspection,” the Russian representative to the UN said. “.
Putin charges Ukraine with posing a threat to Russian ships. and confirms the suspension of the grain agreement
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