Russia pulls out of grain deal after Crimea attack

Russia’s army claims to have ‘destroyed’ nine aerial drones and seven maritime ones, in an attack on its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea on Saturday

MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday suspended participation in a UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its fleet in Crimea, dealing a blow to attempts to ease the global food crisis.

Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine attacked the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean peninsular with 16 drones in the early hours of Saturday, and that British navy “specialists” had helped coordinate the “terrorist” attack.

Russia said it had repelled the attack, with just minor damage to a minesweeper, but that the ships targeted were involved in ensuring the grain corridor out of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

The Russian army claimed to have “destroyed” nine aerial drones and seven maritime ones, in the attack.

“The Russian side suspends participation in the implementation of agreements on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports,” the defence ministry said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, accused Russia of inventing “fictitious terrorist attacks on its own facilities” while foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow was using a “false pretext” to sink the deal.

“I call on all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations,” Kuleba said.

Meanwhile, Britain on Saturday said Russia’s claims, including that British navy personnel blew up the Nord Stream pipelines last month, were false and aimed at distracting attention from Russian military failures in Ukraine.

The United Nations-brokered grain deal is crucial for food markets: it allows the export of grain from Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, that the Russian invasion had halted. Since Russia and Ukraine signed the UN-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in Turkey on July 22, more than 9 million tonnes of corn, wheat, sunflower products, barley, rapeseed and soya have been exported from Ukraine.

But ahead of the November 19 expiry of the grain deal, which allows Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports, Russia has repeatedly said that there are serious problems with it. Western officials says any Ukrainian exports help ease the food crisis.

Russia will officially notify UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres of its suspension of the Ukraine Black Sea grain deal, Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said.

The United Nations is in contact with Russian authorities about the situation, a UN spokesman said.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths had said on Wednesday that he was “relatively optimistic” that the deal would be extended beyond mid-November.

Just 24 hours before Russia suspended participation in the deal, a spokesman for UN secretary-general had appealed to the parties to renew the pact.

AP Russian Black Sea fleet ships are anchored in one of the bays of Sevastopol, Crimea, on March 31, 2014.