By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL- On Tuesday, Russia was accused of violating the latest Black Sea Grain Deal extension and its commitments to deliver grain to nations in need. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky said Russia cut one of Ukraine’s ports out of the most current grain extension agreement. The deal, extended for two months last week, covers the wartime export of food and fertilizers from Ukrainian ports Odessa, Chomomorsk and Pivdennyi. On Monday, the UN made its concerns known after discovering that no grain shipments had gone out to Pivdennyi since May 2 which was clearly part of the deal.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian Deputy Renovation Minister Yuriy Vaskov accused Russia of a “gross violation of the agreement. According to the grain deal, all ships must be inspected by a joint team of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN inspectors but he said Russian inspectors have refused since April 29 to inspect the ships bound for Pivdennyi. As Vaskov commented: “They (Russia) have now found an effective way to significantly reduce (Ukrainian) grain exports by excluding the port of Pivdennyi, which handles large tonnage vessels, from the initiative,” Russia’s complaint is about not being able to export ammonia via a pipeline to Pivdennyi under the agreement.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday in a press conference, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Russian actions are “a clear violation of their commitments” and called on Russia to “stop holding global food supplies hostage.” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas=Greenfield accused Russia of pushing millions of people in Africa and the Middle East into food insecurity by using “food as a weapon of war in Ukraine,” including blocking Ukraine grain shipments for months. Pivdennyi is the largest port included in the grain deal and according to restoration ministry data, it stores about 1.5 million tons of food items for future export to 10 countries with 26 ships due to pic
