Russia will regard all ships sailing in the waters of the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports as “potential carriers of military cargo,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Due to the termination of the Black Sea Initiative and the curtailment of the maritime humanitarian corridor, all ships en route to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered potential carriers of military cargo from 00:00 Moscow time on July 20, 2023,” it said.
The ministry said countries whose flags are present on those vessels would be viewed as parties to the conflict from the Ukrainian side.
It also temporarily declared several areas in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the international waters of the Black Sea “dangerous for navigation.”
Russia and Ukraine signed with Türkiye and the United Nations Black Sea Grain Initiative separately in Istanbul in July 2022 to allow Ukraine to export its grain and other agricultural products through its Black Sea ports.
Moscow suspended its participation in the agreement on July 17, 2023 when the deal was set to expire, saying it would return to the deal as soon as Russia’s part of the agreement is fulfilled.
Ukraine stated that it hopes to continue the deal after Russia’s withdrawal. But Russia’s suspension has caused concerns worldwide.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “will continue to explore all possible avenues to ensure that Ukrainian grain, Russian grain, Russian fertilizer are out on the global market,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
Analysts warned that the collapse of the Black Sea export corridor would create market tension and push up food prices over the medium term.
Putin says Western countries at fault for Black Sea grain deal collapse
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Western countries of perverting the expired Black Sea grain deal for their own ends, but said Russia would immediately return to the agreement if all its conditions were met.
On Monday, Moscow had quit the deal, under which it had allowed Ukraine a year ago to export grain from its Black Sea ports despite the war to alleviate a global food crisis.
It said a parallel memorandum signed at the same time, intended to facilitate its own grain and fertilizer exports in the face of the Western sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its attack on Ukraine, had been ignored.
“Initially, the essence, the meaning of the grain deal has a colossal humanitarian significance,” Putin said.
“The West has completely emasculated and perverted this essence, and instead of helping countries in real need, the West used the grain deal for political blackmail, and in addition… made it a tool for enriching transnational corporations, speculators in the global grain market.”
Putin has accused Western countries of ‘perverting’ the deal for their own ends but says there is still a chance an agreement can be struck. /Umit Bektas/Reuters
He restated Moscow’s position that it would return to the deal as soon as the West met its five key demands, which Putin enumerated:
– readmission of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT payment system;
– resumption of exports of agricultural machinery and spare parts to Russia;
– removal of restrictions on insurance and access to ports for Russian ships and cargo;
– reinstatement of a now-damaged ammonia export pipeline from Russia’s Togliatti to Odesa in Ukraine;
– the unblocking of accounts and financial activities of Russian fertilizer companies.
“If all these conditions are fulfilled, which we previously agreed on – they are not something I have invented now – but as soon as they are fulfilled, we will immediately return to the deal,” Putin said.
