After attacks on ships in Crimea, Russia has withdrawn from an UN-mediated agreement to export farm goods from Ukrainian ports, according to a statement from the Russian defense ministry on Saturday. This deal, which had been set to last for three months, was meant to relieve the global shortage of grain.
In the early hours of Saturday, Russian-occupied Crimea’s largest city, Sevastopol, was the target of an attack by Ukrainian forces using drones against Black Sea Fleet ships.
“Taking into account… the terrorist act by the Kyiv regime with the participation of British experts against the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in ensuring the security of the ‘grain corridor’, the Russian side suspends participation in the implementation of agreements on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports,” the ministry claimed in a report.
The drone strikes on Saturday, according to the ministry, were mostly repulsed with just minor damage to a Russian minesweeper.
After explosions in the Crimean peninsula on Saturday, Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, charged that Russia had “blackmailed” and “manufactured terror incidents” on its own soil.
To extend the deal on Ukrainian grain exports, particularly by enabling shipments of Russian grain, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on “all parties” to “make every effort” on Friday, according to a spokesperson. The agreement, which was penned in July by the UN, Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey, permitted the shipment of almost nine million tonnes of grain from that country.
Dmitry Patrushev, the minister of agriculture for Russia, stated on Saturday that his country was prepared to replace Ukrainian grain supplies by giving away up to 500,000 tonnes of grain to underdeveloped nations over the next four months with assistance from Turkey. “Taking into account this year’s harvest, the Russian Federation is fully prepared to replace Ukrainian grain and deliver supplies at affordable prices to all interested countries,” he stated.
The British navy soldiers blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month, according to the Russian Defence Ministry. London dismissed this assertion as baseless and an attempt to divert attention from Russian military shortcomings in Ukraine.
Despite being mostly repulsed and only causing minor damage to a Russian minesweeper, the Russian ministry claimed that “British professionals” from the same unit coordinated Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian Black Sea fleet ships in Crimea.
“According to available information, representatives of this unit of the British Navy took part in the planning, provision and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year – blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines,” the ministry remarked.
Additionally, Russia asserted that the rapid placement of upgraded US B61 tactical nuclear weapons on NATO facilities in Europe would decrease the “nuclear threshold” and promised to take this into account when preparing its military.
