On Monday, Russia blocked the implementation of a ground-breaking peacetime agreement that permits grain to travel from Ukraine to regions of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia where famine is a growing menace and high food costs have forced more people into poverty.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative will be put on hold until Russia’s demands to export its own grain and fertilizer to the rest of the world are satisfied, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Russia has sent record amounts of wheat, despite its complaints that insurance and shipping restrictions have harmed its agricultural exports.
“Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal,” Peskov said of the Black Sea Agreement’s Russian portion.
