Russia announces resumption of Black Sea grain deal

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia announced on Wednesday that it is returning to implementation of the Black Sea grain corridor deal reached this July.

"Thanks to the participation of the UN and the support of Türkiye, we managed to get the necessary written guarantees from Ukraine regarding the grain deal," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Russia considers "sufficient" the guarantees received from Ukraine and is resuming implementation of the agreement, the ministry said.

On Saturday, the ministry announced suspension of the deal following attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet at the port of Sevastopol.

On July 22, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February. Some 10 million tons of grain had been sent out under the deal.

The UN, US, Türkiye, and other nations and international actors had all stressed their desire to see the deal continue.