After Cereal Deal
Russia cancels security guarantees and threatens
7/18/2023 3:34 p.m
The grain deal between Russia and Ukraine is history. The Kremlin wants to leave no doubt about that. A day after the deal ended, he lifted the safety guarantees for ships and dissolved the coordination center. There’s a threat on top of that.
A day after the grain agreement with Ukraine expired, Russia canceled security guarantees for Ukrainian grain exports. This means that there is again “a temporary dangerous zone” in the north-west of the Black Sea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a telephone call with his Turkish colleague Hakan Fidan, according to his ministry. The coordination center for the implementation of the grain agreement declared Russia dissolved.
On Monday, Russia declared the agreement brokered by Turkey and the UN on the export of grain from Ukraine, which had existed since last summer, to be over and allowed it to expire.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov today, Tuesday, raised serious allegations against Kiev and at the same time warned of “security risks” in a new grain agreement excluding Russia. It is “no longer a secret for anyone” and “an obvious fact” that Ukraine is using the sea corridor for grain exports “for military purposes,” Peskov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman warned Ukraine against continuing its exports across the Black Sea. “Without adequate safety guarantees, certain risks arise here,” said Peskow. If an agreement “without Russia” is formalized in the future, “then these risks should be taken into account”.