West pressures Kremlin to extend Ukrainian grain export deal

The Kremlin is under mounting pressure to extend a deal to allow grain exports through Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, as Belarus said fighters from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group had begun training its troops three weeks after they staged a brief mutiny.

An agreement brokered last year by the United Nations and Turkey to end a Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports is due to expire on Monday, and Moscow says it will not renew the pact unless certain terms of the deal that it accuses the West of ignoring are fulfilled.

“We are preparing to host [Russian president Vladimir] Putin in Turkey in August. We are of the same mind on the extension of the Black Sea grain corridor,” Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

“[UN secretary general Antonio] Guterres sent a letter to Putin. I hope that with this letter we assure the extension of the grain corridor deal with the joint efforts of us and Russia,” he added.

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Mr Guterres reportedly urged Mr Putin to extend the deal for several months, during which time the EU would reconnect the Russian Agricultural Bank to the Swift system of international payments from which it was excluded under sanctions last year in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“The objective is to remove hurdles affecting financial transactions through the Russian Agricultural Bank, a major concern expressed by the Russian Federation, and simultaneously allow for the continued flow of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Moscow has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the Black Sea deal because measures that were agreed to support its own food and fertiliser exports have allegedly not been implemented. More than 32 million tonnes of grain and other food products have reached international markets under the agreement, and the UN says it has helped stabilise world food prices.

“I want to emphasise that nothing was done…It’s all one-sided,” Mr Putin said on Thursday. “We can suspend our participation in the deal, and if everyone once again says that all promises made to us will be fulfilled then let them fulfil this promise. We will immediately rejoin this deal.”

US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned on Friday that “if Moscow follows through on its threat developing countries…will pay the price including quite literally with higher food prices, as well as greater food scarcity”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, and said “Russia must clearly realise that anyone who increases the threat of famine, particularly in critical regions of Africa, is terrorising the whole world with hunger”.

Belarus said on Friday that its troops were receiving training from members of the Wagner group, which briefly revolted last month and staged a “march of justice” towards Moscow, seizing the southern Russian city of Rostov and shooting down several Russian military aircraft, killing about 13 crew members.

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly agreed to go into exile in Belarus after ending the mutiny, but is still thought to be in Russia.