Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily Internet video that the suspension decision "was not made just today". "Russia began exacerbating global food shortages in September when it began blocking the movement of ships transporting our agricultural produce." According to Zelenskyy, at least 176 ships with more than two million tons of grain had already been blocked by Moscow.
Zelenskyj called for an "energetic international response". US President Joe Biden called Moscow's decision "simply outrageous" to journalists. There is "no reason" for it, he said. A spokeswoman for the National Security Council in Washington had previously said that Moscow was once again using food as a weapon.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was "vital" that "all parties refrain from any action" that would jeopardize the agreement. It is of "key humanitarian importance" and has a positive impact on access to food for millions of people worldwide.
The grain agreement was signed on July 22 in the Turkish metropolis with the mediation of Turkey and the UN and was considered a key contribution to alleviating the global food crisis triggered by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Thanks to the agreement, nine million tons of grain had already been exported from Ukraine.
The agreement was supposed to be extended on November 19th. Compliance is monitored by an international coordination center in Istanbul.
Turkish security circles said on Saturday that the government in Ankara had "not yet been officially informed" by Moscow about Russia's withdrawal from the grain agreement.
According to the governor of the largest city in Crimea, Mikhail Rasvoyaev, the attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, with which Moscow justified its withdrawal, were the "heaviest attacks" with drones on the Russian-occupied peninsula since the beginning the widespread Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The target of the attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol with drones and "remote-controlled surface vehicles" were also ships that were used to protect the grain convoys, the Defense Ministry said.
Sevastopol is the home port and main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The city also plays a central role in the logistics of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
On Saturday, Moscow accused Great Britain of British "specialists" being involved in both the attack on the Black Sea Fleet and the "terrorist attack" on the German-Russian Nord Stream natural gas pipeline on September 26. Moscow announced that it would address the attacks before the UN Security Council.
Russia wants to "draw the attention of the international community, particularly through the UN Security Council," to the "series of terrorist attacks against Russia in the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea" and also address the "Britain's involvement," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, on Telegram.
Great Britain rejected the allegations. In order to distract from the "disastrous failure in the illegal invasion of Ukraine", the Russian Ministry of Defense uses "false claims of epic proportions," the British Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter. The "fictional story" reveals more about "disputes within the Russian government than about the West."
