Putin: Russia only suspends participation in grain deal

SOCHI/MOSCOW/UN/WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (PRIME) -- Russia is not completely withdrawing from the grain deal, it only suspended its participation, President Vladimir Putin said in a news conference late on Monday.

On October 29, Moscow suspended its participation after the Ukrainian forces damaged the Russian fleet, including civil ships near Sevastopol.

“We are not saying that we terminate our participation in this operation, no. We are saying that we suspend the participation,” he said, adding that the U.N. officials should work with Ukraine so that Kyiv guarantees that no ships working under the deal are threatened.

Russia agreed to the deal to help the poorest countries, but only 3–5% of the grain went there, while about 34% were shipped to Turkey and about 35% to Europe, he said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the grain deal with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu over the phone. Moscow will only start talks to resume navigation of ships under the deal if it receives guarantees from Ukraine that the humanitarian corridor would not be used for military warfare against Russia, Lavrov said as quoted by the ministry.

Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Russian parliament’s lower chamber State Duma, also said in his Telegram channel that the grain deal would not resume as long as Ukraine uses the safe corridor for terrorist attacks on Russian ships.

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said during a U.N. meeting that around 60 ships out of more than 820 vessels have deviated from the U.N.-organized humanitarian corridor, while Russia’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Vasily Nebenzya said that over 70 ships have violated the rules of the grain deal since its beginning.

China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. Geng Shuang said that Beijing hoped for the sides to continue communication and to remain in contact, while U.S. Department of State spokesman Ned Price said in a news conference that Moscow’s decision was unjustified.

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