Moscow announced Monday the “de facto” end of the agreement on the export of Ukrainian cereals, considered crucial for world food, a few hours after a night attack by the Ukrainian army with naval drones against the strategic bridge of Crimea.
“The Black Sea agreement has de facto ended today,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that “as soon as the part (of the agreements) concerning Russia is satisfied, Russia will immediately return to the grain agreement”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denounced the obstacles to the export of Russian food and fertilizer products, which was to accompany that of Ukrainian products.
He also ruled on Saturday that “the main objective of the agreement, the delivery of cereals to countries in need, particularly on the African continent” was “not achieved”.
The announcement comes hours before the deal expires at midnight (5 p.m. EDT) in Istanbul.
Signed in July 2022 on the shores of the Bosphorus and already renewed twice, the agreement allowing Ukraine to export its cereals by the Black Sea has made it possible, over the past year, to export nearly 33 million tonnes grain from Ukrainian ports, despite the conflict.
Turkey, Ukraine and the UN have been notified of the Kremlin’s decision, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Despite the Kremlin’s announcement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was convinced that his “friend Mr. Putin wants to pursue the agreement” allowing the export of grain from Ukraine to the Black Sea.
Berlin, for its part, called on “Russia to make the extension of the agreement possible” and “not to make the consequences of this (Ukrainian) conflict bear the brunt of the poorest people on the planet”.
The Kremlin’s announcement comes hours after a Ukrainian naval drone attack hit the Crimean Bridge, linking Russia with the annexed Crimean peninsula in 2014, and killed two civilians.
The Kremlin spokesperson, however, assured that the decision not to renew the agreement and the attack were not “linked”, explaining that “even before this attack, this was President Putin’s position”. .
Naval drones
The attack on the Crimean bridge caused significant damage to the road section of the bridge, which is used in particular to transport military equipment to the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.
It was carried out by the Ukrainian special services and naval forces using “naval drones”, a source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) told AFP on Monday.
The Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) said in a statement that it took place at 3:05 a.m. and confirmed that it was carried out by “naval surface drones”.
Two civilians, a man and a woman who were driving, were killed there and their daughter injured, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement on Monday.
The Russian governor of the annexed Crimean peninsula, Sergei Aksionov, had initially mentioned on Telegram an “emergency” which required traffic to be stopped on the bridge, the Russian Ministry of Transport specifying for its part that the roadway had been “damaged”.
On Telegram, the Crimea-24 public television channel posted a video of the bridge showing a partially collapsed portion of its road section.
The 18-kilometre-long concrete bridge, built at great expense on the orders of Vladimir Putin and inaugurated in 2018, consists of two parallel structures, one reserved for road traffic and the other for rail traffic.
The railway section of the bridge was not damaged and traffic resumed there in the morning, Crimean authorities said. Ferry services to cross this arm of the sea have also resumed, motorists wanting to cross the strait being called upon to use them.
The viaduct, which spans the Kerch Strait, had already been damaged on October 8 by a powerful explosion attributed by the Russian authorities to a truck booby-trapped by the Ukrainian secret services. It was then returned to service.
Last chance maneuvers
Russian Senate Speaker Sergei Mironov said Moscow should retaliate by attacking Ukrainian infrastructure and stopping negotiations on the grain deal.
“That’s what we need to do, not discuss a grain deal that helps Kyiv rulers and their Western masters line their pockets,” he said.
Silence and discretion surrounded all weekend the last-ditch maneuvers led by Turkey and the UN to convince Moscow to extend the cereals agreement signed in July 2022 on the Bosphorus.
According to official data from the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) overseeing the deal in Istanbul, China and Turkey are the primary beneficiaries of the shipments, along with developed economies.
But thanks to the agreement, the World Food Program (WFP) was able to relieve a dozen countries in critical situation such as Afghanistan, Sudan or Yemen.