Russia has ceased a wartime deal that allowed for the safe export of grain from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, where growing food prices have led to mass hunger and increased poverty rates. Per the Associated Press, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would suspend its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative until its demands to get its own food and fertilizer to the world are met. Once those demands are satisfied, Peskov said Russia would "immediately return to the implementation of the deal."
Brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July, the deal allowed grain shipments from Ukraine to leave the Black Sea region following Russia's 2022 invasion, which further exacerbated a global food crisis. Both Ukraine and Russia are prominent suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other affordable, in-demand food products. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said this month that 45 countries need outside food assistance, with high local food prices "a driver of worrying levels of hunger" in those places, according to the AP.
Under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, nearly 33 million metric tons of corn, wheat and other grains have been exported by Ukraine, per the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul. The suspension of the deal has already hiked up wheat prices — analysts also said finding suppliers outside Ukraine that are further away could add to those rising costs.
