Can’t get through: Cargo ships loaded with Ukrainian grain are waiting to be inspected off Istanbul.
Image: EPA
Moscow uses an attack on Sevastopol as an opportunity to suspend the grain agreement. Putin had recently repeatedly criticized the agreement. Ukraine relies on income from agricultural exports.
KAfter the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Saturday that it was suspending Russia’s participation in the Ukrainian grain export agreement, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman was asked if he would now discuss the matter with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “So far there are no such plans,” said Dmitry Peskov tersely.
Erdogan, sometimes a rival, sometimes a partner of Putin, has repeatedly made it clear that he wants to stick to the agreement signed in Istanbul on July 22. But Russia’s Foreign Ministry has now emphasized that it has been suspended indefinitely. In addition, if the agreement is not extended, it will expire in three weeks anyway – and Moscow has made it clear that it does not want to stick to it without further Western concessions.
