Russia threatens again to disrupt the “grain agreement”

Russia once again threatens to abandon the “grain agreement” if the West does not remove “obstacles to russian exports.” Also, russia probably plans to further reduce the number of vessel inspections in the Bosphorus.
What does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of russian federation say?
Moscow may withdraw from the Istanbul Agreements if obstacles to russian exports remain. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of russian federation Sergey Lavrov during his visit to Turkey on April 7.
After meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Lavrov said that the parties discussed “the course of implementation, or more precisely, the non-implementation of the Black Sea Initiative by UN Secretary General Guterres.”
The head of the foreign ministry of the terrorist country stated that the Ukrainian part of the implementation of the agreements “degenerated into the commercial export of Ukrainian grain in the presence of special conditions, with the removal of requirements for such goods to Western countries.”
Lavrov claims that the poorest countries receive “less than 3%” of the grain shipped by Ukraine. He also complained about the “obstacles” in the way of russian exports.
“Obstacles in the way of financing, logistical arrangements, transportation, insurance, export of russian products persist and even increase,” the diplomat emphasized.
Lavrov’s most important statement was the ultimatum that russia “will work outside the boundaries of the grain agreement if the West does not find a constructive one, Turkey and Qatar are ready for this.”
“If they [Western countries] do not have the desire to honestly approach what Mr. [UN Secretary General Antonio] Guterres so persistently promoted, let them continue to ship the relevant products from Ukraine by land – by land, by rail, by rivers, they have already created appropriate logistics that work. And we will work, if necessary, even outside the framework of this initiative, we have opportunities to do this with Turkey and Qatar. The presidents discussed relevant plans,” Lavrov summed up.

A few facts
Russia, as always, lies in its statements about the “non-fulfillment” of Ukraine and the UN obligations under the Istanbul Agreements. The head of the russian Foreign Ministry stated that Ukraine delivers only 3% of exports from sea ports to poor countries, which is not true.
According to Stark Shipping, since the start of the “grain corridor” on August 1, 2022, Ukraine has exported 26.8 million tons of agricultural products. Ukraine sent 3.19 million tons of products directly to African countries, which is 12% of all shipments.
Ukraine also sends grain to Asia, where there are also countries suffering from the food crisis. Thus, since August 1, Ukraine exported 822,500 tons of products to Bangladesh, 138,300 tons to Yemen, and 128,000 tons to Iraq. Grain was delivered to Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Pakistan, Oman, etc.
It is worth noting that the volume of exports from the ports of Great Odesa to African countries could have been much greater if the russians had not sabotaged the inspection of grain ships in the Bosphorus. Russia itself interferes with grain supplies to poor countries in order to keep the world in tension and anticipation of a possible food crisis, as well as to find yet another excuse for threatening to withdraw from the agreements.
The economic situation in Ukraine, which is experiencing a full-scale war, does not allow free shipping of hundreds of thousands of tons of grain only to poor countries. That is why, in particular, Ukraine launched the humanitarian initiative Grain from Ukraine, which involves attracting finances from rich countries that can pay for the delivery of grain to the poor.
Russia is also lying about “obstacles” in the export of russian food. The West did not impose direct sanctions against russian food exports. Moreover, during the creation of sanctions packages, the EU regularly made exceptions for the export of food products and other goods that fall under the category of humanitarian aid from russian federation. The export of russian grain is affected, if only, by blocking payment, logistics and insurance systems of the terrorist country within the framework of sanctions.
Russia is increasing its sabotage of ship inspections in the Bosphorus
The other day there was information that traders are stopping purchases – in connection with the fact that the russians allegedly refuse to inspect ships in the Bosphorus at the entrance. Representatives of russian federation plan to inspect vessels only on exit. USM learned about this from market participants.
No matter how much one would like to get rid of any agreements with the aggressor country, russia’s participation in the Istanbul Agreements makes sense. If russian federation withdraws from the “grain agreement”, it may affect the desire of farmers and shipowners to send ships through the “grain corridor”, since russia will no longer be limited by agreements on paper.
Even if russia does not attack grain ships, the absence of any security agreement with russian federation may affect ship insurance, grain prices, and export flow from Ukrainian ports.