United Nations — Russia had announced that it would suspend its involvement in an agreement with Ukraine that has enabled both countries to continue exporting grain amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the neighboring nation.
The breakdown of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, threatened to drive global food prices back up and underscored the tension between the two sides as Ukraine pushes a grinding counteroffensive against Russia’s nearly 17-month invasion.
“The Russians sent a letter this morning to the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul announcing the termination of their participation in the Black Sea Initiative,” a U.N. official told CBS News.
Minister Dmytro Kuleba was in New York to speak at the U.N. He joined CBS “Mornings” on Monday and called on Russia to “stop playing hunger games.”
“Last year, when the Black Sea Grain Initiative was introduced, grain prices in the world dropped by 20%, so the immediate outcome of the non-extension of the agreement will mean that prices for grain all across the globe will go up, and people in the most vulnerable regions of Asia, Africa, they will feel it,” said Kuleba.
“Stop playing hunger games with the people around the world,” he said, addressing Moscow. “It’s impossible to fully compensate the blockade of Ukrainian ports by inland routes, so Russia is using hunger as an instrument to blackmail the world, pursuing it’s own commercial interests.”
Russia announced Monday that it would suspend its involvement in an agreement with Ukraine that has enabled both countries to continue exporting grain amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the neighboring nation. The breakdown of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, threatened to drive global food prices back up and underscored the tension between the two sides as Ukraine pushes a grinding counteroffensive against Russia’s nearly 17-month invasion.
“The Russians sent a letter this morning to the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul announcing the termination of their participation in the Black Sea Initiative,” a U.N. official told CBS News.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced the move in Moscow on Monday, calling it a suspension rather than a termination. He repeated a complaint that Russia has made since the deal was first agreed last year, arguing that the U.S. and Ukraine’s other international partners weren’t allowing the pact to be carried out fairly by making it impossible for Russia to export some agricultural products.
“When the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal,” Peskov told reporters.
Russia’s move came as Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was in New York to speak at the U.N. He joined CBS “Mornings” on Monday and called on Russia to “stop playing hunger games.”
“Last year, when the Black Sea Grain Initiative was introduced, grain prices in the world dropped by 20%, so the immediate outcome of the non-extension of the agreement will mean that prices for grain all across the globe will go up, and people in the most vulnerable regions of Asia, Africa, they will feel it,” said Kuleba.
“Stop playing hunger games with the people around the world,” he said, addressing Moscow. “It’s impossible to fully compensate the blockade of Ukrainian ports by inland routes, so Russia is using hunger as an instrument to blackmail the world, pursuing it’s own commercial interests.”
Speaking to reporters at U.N. Headquarters on Monday, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called it “another act of cruelty” by Russia, accusing Moscow of holding “humanity hostage.”
Speaking last month to CBS’ “Face the Nation” as negotiations dragged on over an extension of the grain agreement, the head of the World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, warned that “starvation and famine” were real risks for vulnerable populations globally if Russia didn’t extend pact.
Richard Gowan, U.N. Director for the International Crisis Group, told CBS News on Monday that it was significant that Russia had “not quit the deal definitively.”
Gowan acknowledged that it could merely “be a tactic to force the U.N. and Western powers to offer Moscow more concessions,” however, and he noted that Russia appeared to be “growing increasingly contemptuous of the U.N. in general.”
That may not bode well for a resurrection of the crucial grain export pact, which U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres personally helped broker.
United Nations — Russia announced Monday that it would suspend its involvement in an agreement with Ukraine that has enabled both countries to continue exporting grain amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the neighboring nation. The breakdown of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, threatened to drive global food prices back up and underscored the tension between the two sides as Ukraine pushes a grinding counteroffensive against Russia’s nearly 17-month invasion.
“The Russians sent a letter this morning to the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul announcing the termination of their participation in the Black Sea Initiative,” a U.N. official told CBS News.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced the move in Moscow on Monday, calling it a suspension rather than a termination. He repeated a complaint that Russia has made since the deal was first agreed last year, arguing that the U.S. and Ukraine’s other international partners weren’t allowing the pact to be carried out fairly by making it impossible for Russia to export some agricultural products.
“When the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal,” Peskov told reporters.
Russia’s move came as Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was in New York to speak at the U.N. He joined CBS “Mornings” on Monday and called on Russia to “stop playing hunger games.”
“Last year, when the Black Sea Grain Initiative was introduced, grain prices in the world dropped by 20%, so the immediate outcome of the non-extension of the agreement will mean that prices for grain all across the globe will go up, and people in the most vulnerable regions of Asia, Africa, they will feel it,” said Kuleba.
“Stop playing hunger games with the people around the world,” he said, addressing Moscow. “It’s impossible to fully compensate the blockade of Ukrainian ports by inland routes, so Russia is using hunger as an instrument to blackmail the world, pursuing it’s own commercial interest.
Speaking to reporters at U.N. Headquarters on Monday, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called it “another act of cruelty” by Russia, accusing Moscow of holding “humanity hostage.”
Speaking last month to CBS’ “Face the Nation” as negotiations dragged on over an extension of the grain agreement, the head of the World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, warned that “starvation and famine” were real risks for vulnerable populations globally if Russia didn’t extend pact.
Richard Gowan, U.N. Director for the International Crisis Group, told CBS News on Monday that it was significant that Russia had “not quit the deal definitively.”
Gowan acknowledged that it could merely “be a tactic to force the U.N. and Western powers to offer Moscow more concessions,” however, and he noted that Russia appeared to be “growing increasingly contemptuous of the U.N.
The agreement never included a single document with signatures from both Russian and Ukrainian officials, but there were separate Memorandums of Understanding, including one between the U.N. and Russia that said the U.N. would assist in making sure Russian fertilizers were not blocked by secondary sanctions on ships, insurance or banking.
When it was first negotiated by Turkey and the U.N., the purpose of the pact was alleviate the drastic disruption in the global supply of grains, food and fertilizers that resulted from “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Both countries are among the top producers of grain globally, and the war launched by Vladimir Putin’s government in February 2022, especially with the fighting around Ukraine’s only sea coast, halted exports almost completely, sending food prices soaring.
The landmark deal enabled the export of wheat, sunflower oil and barley to resume, helping to lower food prices around the world.
While there has been concern over the impact of the grain deal’s suspension, it may be mitigated in part by Russia having increased exports of wheat and corn recently.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the U.N.’s Guterres had urged Russia to renew the agreement and several parties have said talks were still ongoing to find a new deal.
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