Posted on March, 25, 2025 at 10:12 am
Russia is expressing interest in resuming the Black Sea Grain Initiative as part of its discussions with the United States on March 24 in Saudia Arabia regarding a potential ceasefire with Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The deal, which originally was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, allowed safe passage of Ukrainian grain out of its Black Sea ports during the Russian-Ukraine conflict, which began in February 2022 and has been fought mostly on Ukrainian soil. The deal was signed in the summer of 2022 following five-month blockade of grain exports from Ukraine’s sea ports. The agreement lasted until the summer of 2023 when Russia pulled out of the deal claiming key aspects of it were never implemented.
Since then, Ukraine has circumvented the Russian blockade by using an alternative sea route as well as increasing international shipments by river, rail and road. Commercial vessels have traced the Black Sea’s western coast, along the borders of friendly states such as Bulgaria and Romania. It is difficult for Russian submarines to maneuver in the shallow waters, and the shipping lane, near NATO territory, raises the possibility of a military confrontation between Russia and NATO countries.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on March 24 that transportation safety was just part of the original deal.
“This is primarily about safety of navigation, but if you remember the initiative in its previous form, there was a large (number) of the obligations to our country that were not fulfilled last time,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Reuters. “Therefore, this will be on the agenda today.”
When Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, it claimed its food and fertilizer exports faced serious obstacles. Although those items are not subject to Western sanctions and have continued to be exported, the Russian government claims restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments, Reuters reported.
Russia has demanded the lifting of restrictions on its agricultural bank, the resumption of key trade routes, and the unfreezing of assets tied to food exports.
Throughout the war, Russia has attacked Ukraine’s grain storage and transportation infrastructure. According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, as of November 2024, Russia had damaged more than 300 port infrastructure facilities at Black Sea ports and 23 civilian vessels while destroying more than 100,000 tonnes of agricultural products.
Before the war, Ukraine exported more than 60 million tonnes of grain annually, or about 10% of the global market, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture.
Using the alternative sea route following Russia’s exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Ukraine approached pre-war export levels in 2023-24, shipping 29.4 million tonnes of corn and 18.5 million tonnes of wheat, the third highest levels on record, according to the FAS. But exports of those products are forecast to fall significantly this year due to smaller crop production, particularly corn, and depleted grain stocks accumulated during the war.
Source: World Grain