Russia is considering pulling out from the landmark Black Sea grain deal because the West has cheated Moscow by implementing none of the promises to get Russian agricultural goods to world markets, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.
The deal allowing Ukraine to resume seaborne grain exports through a demilitarized Black Sea maritime corridor was brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye in July last year to help tackle a global food crisis the U.N. said had been exacerbated by Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.
To convince Moscow to approve the pact, known by diplomats as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a three-year accord was struck while U.N. officials agreed to help Russia with its food and fertilizer exports.
But Putin said that commitment had not been honored because of the perfidy of the West. In response, Russia has slowed down Black Sea grain shipments.
"We are thinking about getting out of this grain deal now," Putin told a meeting of Russian war correspondents and military bloggers.
"Unfortunately, we were once again cheated – nothing was done to liberalize the supply of our grain to foreign markets. There were a lot of conditions that the Westerners had to fulfill under the leadership of the U.N.
"Nothing has been done," Putin added.
Western powers have imposed what they cast as the toughest sanctions ever on Russia over its full-scale war in Ukraine launched on Feb. 24, 2022.
While Russia's food and fertilizer exports are not sanctioned, the West's restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance pose barriers to shipments, according to Moscow and major Russian grain and fertilizer exporters.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday some progress had been made by U.N. officials to smooth Russia's exports, but "there are some hurdles that remain."
"We don't hold all the levers of power in order to facilitate the export of Russian grain and fertilizer, which is not sanctioned," Dujarric said.
The United States called on Russia to stop threatening global food supplies.
"The world deserves certainty that this corridor for grain and food exports will be there on a sustainable basis and that it will get to global markets so that the world can continue to be fed," said a White House National Security Council spokesperson.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the world's top agricultural producers and major players in the wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seed and sunflower oil markets. Russia is also dominant in the fertilizer market.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday he was concerned Russia would on July 17 quit the grain deal.
"We are working hard in order to make sure that it will be possible to maintain the Black Sea initiative and at the same time that we are able to go on in our work to facilitate Russian exports," Guterres told reporters.
Putin clarified Russia is considering stopping participation in the grain deal.
He said he would discuss its future with some African leaders expected to visit Russia soon, adding that Moscow was ready to supply grain for free to the world's poorest countries.
"Almost nothing goes to African countries," Putin said of the current situation, adding that Moscow had agreed several times to extend the deal but had nothing to show.
The U.N. has always said the Black Sea grain deal was a commercial enterprise that was not intended to be entirely humanitarian but benefited poorer countries by helping lower food prices globally.
"We're interested in seeing this (deal) continue in order to ensure that food prices do not go back up," Dujarric said.
According to U.N. data, more than 31 million tons of mainly corn and wheat have been exported by Ukraine under the Black Sea deal. The top destinations have been China, Spain, Türkiye, Italy, the Netherlands, Egypt and Bangladesh.
The current deal will expire on July 17 unless Russia agrees to extend it.
Russia's specific demands are that Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) be reconnected to the SWIFT payment system, that supplies of agricultural machinery and parts to Russia needed to be resumed, and that restrictions on insurance and reinsurance needed be lifted.
Other demands include the resumption of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline that lets Russia pump the chemical to Ukraine's main Black Sea port and the unblocking of assets and accounts of Russian companies involved in food and fertilizer exports.
