Russia has notified the UN, Turkey and Ukraine that it will not renew a crucial deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the agreements had reached a “de facto” end on Monday.
The deal let cargo ships pass through the Black Sea from the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi.
But, Moscow said it would return to the agreement if its conditions were met.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had long complained that parts of the deal allowing the export of Russian food and fertilisers had not been honoured.
In particular, he said grain had not been supplied to poorer countries, which was a condition of the agreement.
Nikolay Gorbachev, the president of the Ukrainian Grain Association, told the BBC that his members had identified alternative means of exporting grain – including through its Danube River ports.
But he conceded that the ports would be less efficient, reducing the amount of grain Ukraine can export and raising the cost of moving it.
World leaders were quick to condemn the decision, with EU commission President Ursula von der Leyen accusing Russia of a “cynical move”, while the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, described the move as an “act of cruelty”.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who heads the World Trade Organization (WTO) said Black Sea trade in food, feed and fertiliser was “critical to the stability of global food prices” – adding that hope must be kept alive that Moscow would reconsider pulling out of the gran deal.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, said the organisation would look for solutions to the “rise in human suffering” that would “inevitably” follow Russia’s decision.
“There is simply too much at stake in a hungry and hurting world,” said Mr Guterres.
The Kremlin’s announcement came just hours after an attack on a bridge in Crimea that killed two civilians. Ukraine has not officially claimed responsibility but a source in the country’s security service told BBC Russian it was behind the attack.
Mr Peskov said Russia letting the deal expire was unrelated to the attack. “Before this attack, the position was declared by President Putin”, he told reporters in Moscow.
BBC
