Why Russia is suspending the Black Sea grain deal with Ukraine

Russia announced on Monday that it was suspending a crucial deal that allows grain to be exported from Ukraine to countries in Africa and the Middle East.

“The grain deal has halted,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. “As soon as the Russian part of the deal is fulfilled, the Russian side will resume the fulfillment of this deal without delay.”

Moscow claimed that the deal had only benefited Ukraine and that Russian exports, such as wheat and fertilizer, had been blocked from foreign markets due to Western sanctions.

Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin asked for the removal of all sanctions against the Russian Agricultural Bank as well as the unblocking of accounts of Russian companies involved in the export of both food and fertilizer.

The grain agreement, which expired on Monday, was brokered in July 2022 by the United Nations and Turkey to allow grain that had been blocked by the conflict to be exported through the Black Sea. It was aimed at alleviating the global food crisis, which had been worsened by the war in Ukraine.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday that “hundreds of millions of people face hunger and consumers are confronting a global cost-of-living crisis. They will pay the price.” Guterres added that the U.N.’s main focus will be assuring global food security and price stability.

The suspension comes as Kremlin officials accuse Kyiv of a second attack on the bridge that connects Crimea and Russia. An explosion on the bridge in the early hours of Monday morning killed a couple and injured their daughter.

Why halting the grain deal matters

Millions of people around the world rely on the farmlands in the Black Sea region, dubbed the “breadbasket of the world,” for food. Nearly 30% of the world’s wheat comes from the fertile fields of Ukraine and Russia, while 75 of the essential oils used in cooking and preparing food are also produced there. Together, Russia and Ukraine account for 20% of the world’s exports of corn, as well as mineral fertilizer and natural gas — both components used in the production and cultivation of grains and seeds.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year caused a disturbance in global supply chains by creating a scarcity of grains and fertilizer. As prices increased and supply decreased, it was those most vulnerable who felt the biggest impact.

According to statistics from the U.N. released this month, more than 35 million tons of food commodities have been exported in the past 12 months from three Ukrainian ports to 45 countries on three continents. “The partial resumption of Ukrainian sea exports ... helped reverse spiking global food prices, which reached record highs shortly before the agreement was signed,” the U.N. said.

Since July 2022, the U.N. World Food Program has transported 799,000 tons of wheat to the countries most affected by starvation, including Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen.

“Failure to renew the Black Sea Initiative today is a huge, life-threatening blow to vulnerable children living in countries in Africa and the Middle East who rely on grain staples,” Nana Ndeda, the humanitarian advocacy and policy lead of Save the Children, said in a statement to Yahoo News.

“The grain deal was a lifeline to millions of boys and girls facing devastating hunger. Not renewing this initiative will prove catastrophic for children around the world and cost thousands of lives.”