The grain corridor agreement between Ukraine and Russia was concluded on July 22, 2022 in Istanbul with the mediation of the UN and Turkey. Its goal was to unblock the three ports of “Great Odesa” and create a safe humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea from the Ukrainian coast to the Bosphorus in order to resume the export of agricultural products. In Ukraine, due to the war started by Russia, 20–25 million tons of grain were blocked.
In Moscow the continuation of the “Grain Agreement” was called “impractical”
In Russia, it is considered “impractical” to continue the grain agreement, if sanctions affecting its agricultural exports are not removed. This was stated by the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Serhiy Vershinin.
According to Vershinin, Russia is not satisfied with some aspects of the agreement, because the arrangement allegedly works unfairly because of sanctions against Russian agricultural exports. He complained that the progress in the promotion of Russian agricultural exports under the agreement with the UN “went down to zero”.
Also Russian government stated that less than 3% of Ukrainian grain is exported to the poorest countries. The majority of it goes to the EU and such developed countries as South Korea and Israel.
Kyiv wants “Grain Corridor Agreement” to be expanded
Unlike Russia, the Ukrainian side believes that the grain corridor agreement should not only be extended but also expanded. Ukrainian government proposed to expand the “grain initiative” to the ports of the Mykolaiv region and to remove any obstacles that limit the corresponding movement of vessels. They noted that Ukrainian ports are currently forced to work only at half capacity: the volume of the fleet entering the ports for loading has decreased, and the volume of exports has decreased to 3 million tons per month. The main reason is purposeful sabotage by the Russian side of vessel inspections in the Bosphorus.
Negotiations between the interested parties promise to be heated and uncompromising. Taking into account the escalating situation not only at the diplomatic level but also directly on the battlefields, it is impossible to predict the outcome of the negotiations. Russia is still striving to conquer Ukrainian lands and will use all possible means for this. Ukraine can only hope for a strong position of the UN and Turkey on the case of the Grain Initiative.
During the last 6 months, Ukrainian exporters sent about 18.9 million tons of agricultural products to the countries of Africa, Asia and the European Union from the seaports (“Pivdennyi”, “Chornomorsk”, “Odesa”) by 687 vessels.