Russia suspends Ukraine grain deal

Russia has suspended the deal allowing Ukraine to transport grain using its Black Sea ports, TASS cites Russia's Defence Ministry.

UPDATE
“In connection with the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces, which were led by British specialists, the Russian side cannot guarantee the security of civilian cargo vessels participating in the so-called Black Sea Initiative. We suspend the deal from today until further notice,” the statement by Russia's Foreign Ministry reads.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, said on 24 October that Russia had asked the United Nations for data on the destinations of grain shipments as it is “not certain about the end recipient.“ Vladimir Putin said on 14 October that the humanitarian corridors used to export Ukraine's grain to other countries might be in doubt ”if it turned out Ukraine was using those for terrorist attacks."

On 22 July, representatives of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the UN signed an agreement regarding the exports of Ukraine’s grain via the Black Sea. A caravan of 13 ships, the largest since the introduction of the “grain corridor”, left the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne on 4 September. The caravan was transporting 282,500 tonnes of Ukrainian agricultural produce. A total of 261 vessels left the unlocked Black Sea ports as of 3 October, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Infrastructure. Those ships have transported 5.9 million tonnes of agricultural produce for countries worldwide.