‘Cruel’: US condemns Russian pull out of Black Sea grain deal, urges Moscow to reverse decision

By Betul Yuruk

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - The US envoy to the UN said Monday that Russia's decision to suspend its participation in the Black Sea grain deal is “another act of cruelty.”

“Russia has dealt another blow to the world’s most vulnerable,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters.

She said that the grain deal brokered by the UN and Türkiye was “a beacon of hope.”

“This arrangement has brought stability to the global food markets, and it lowered food prices for all. But today, Russia has thrown all this progress and all of this hope to the wind,” she added.

Russia refused to renew the grain deal beyond July 17, with the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: “Unfortunately, the part relating to Russia in this Black Sea agreement has not been implemented so far.”

Russia was seeking the removal of obstacles to its fertilizer exports in order to agree to another extension of the grain deal including the inclusion of its state-owned Russian Agricultural Bank in the SWIFT international payment system.

A year ago, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports which had been paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began that February.

The deal has been renewed several times since then, and it was extended for another two months on May 18.

The deal ensured the safe passage of over 32 million metric tons of food commodities from Ukrainian ports, according to the UN.

“More than 345 million people are suffering from high levels of food insecurity,” Thomas-Greenfield said citing the World Food Program.

“And we know without a shadow of doubt, that Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine has pushed millions and millions more people to the brink, especially in the Middle East and Africa,” she said.

“While Russia plays political games, real people will suffer: the child in the Horn of Arica who is severely malnourished, the mother who will stop producing breast milk for her baby because she doesn’t have enough to eat herself,” she added.

“The world needs the Black Sea Grain Initiative. And all Member States must come together and urge Russia to reverse its decision; resume negotiations; extend, expand and fully implement this initiative,” the US envoy said.