Russia is back in the agreement to export Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea. The Russian army confirmed this after an earlier announcement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the export of Ukrainian grain via the humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea would resume on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Erdogan, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoygu had informed his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar about the start of the operations. The Russian military subsequently confirmed that Russia is again participating in the agreement’s implementation. Furthermore, according to the defence ministry, Moscow has received written guarantees from Ukraine that the corridor would not be used for combat against Russia.
“Russia believes that the guarantees received on this point are sufficient and is resuming implementation of the agreement,” the Russian defence ministry said, quoted by the Russian state news agency TASS. That ministry also said that Turkey’s mediation had contributed to the resumption of grain exports. On Tuesday, Erdogan said that he had “confidence” in the cooperation of all parties to find a solution.
Russia withdrew from the deal with Ukraine, Turkey and the UN on Saturday after attacks on the Black Sea fleet off Crimea. Moscow holds Kyiv responsible for this. Ukraine, for its part, says it is a false pretext to withdraw from the deal.
Three grain ships from Ukrainian ports entered the humanitarian corridor on Tuesday despite the Russian withdrawal. Those moves had been given the green light by the Ukrainian, Turkish and UN delegations, according to the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul, which is responsible for the international agreement. The Russian delegation was informed about this. The JCC also inspected 46 ships on Monday and granted permission to use the Black Sea corridor in both directions.
The grain deal concluded in Istanbul on July 19 allowed nearly 10 million grains to be exported from Ukrainian ports. The grain had been blocked there since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The agreement should help prevent a serious food crisis, especially in Africa. The current agreement runs until November 19.
The Turkish president said poor countries in Africa should be given priority in new grain deliveries from Ukraine. According to him, Vladimir Putin had suggested giving priority to countries such as Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan, according to Erdogan, who also said he agreed with the Russian president’s idea.
The Turkish Defense Ministry later confirmed that deliveries had resumed at noon (local time).