Putin U-turn on grain deal as West tells Russia to ‘stop using food as a weapon’

Russia suspended its involvement in the Black Sea Grain Initiative over the weekend

Russian president Vladimir Putin has been urged by Western officials “stop using food as a weapon” after Moscow agreed to rejoin the UN-brokered deal allowing Ukraine grain exports.

Russia suspended its involvement in the Black Sea Grain Initiative over the weekend, saying it could not guarantee the safety of civilian ships crossing the Black Sea because of an attack on its fleet there.

The Kremlin claimed there was a major drone strike on Russian vessels in the Bay of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula – an area Mr Putin annexed from Ukraine in 2014 – part of which it said had originated from within the grain export corridor. Ukraine has said that was a false pretext.

But in a major U-turn on Wednesday, a statement from Russia’s defence ministry announced it had received written guarantees from Kyiv not to use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia and was rejoining the grain deal.

“The Russian Federation considers that the guarantees received at the moment appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement,” the statement reads.

Condemning the move that had threatened to exacerbate hunger across the world, the foreign secretary James Cleverly urged Mr Putin to “stop using food as a weapon”.

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Cleverly added: “He has realised he shot himself in the foot by stopping ships from entering Ukrainian ports to load up grain to feed the world.

“The Grain Initiative must now be extended beyond November without further Russian impediments.”

Echoing Mr Cleverly’s comments, Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations earlier said that Russia cannot stand in the way of global food production.

“They can’t stand in the way of feeding the entire world,” the US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN in an interview, adding that she was “delighted” to hear about Russia‘s return to the agreement, and that Moscow clearly had been “convinced” they needed to resume participation.

Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said earlier that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu had told his Turkish counterpart that the 22 July grain deal, brokered by Turkey and the UN, would continue to operate as of midday on Wednesday.

“The grain transports will continue as agreed before as of 12 (pm) today,” Mr Erdogan said.

The prices of wheat, soybeans, corn and rapeseed fell sharply on global markets following the announcement, which eased concerns about the growing unaffordability of food.