Putin Warns Russia Could Drop Grain Deal after 60 Days

A worker loads a truck with grain at a terminal during barley harvesting in Odesa region, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine June 23, 2022. (Reuters)
A worker loads a truck with grain at a terminal during barley harvesting in Odesa region, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine June 23, 2022. (Reuters)
TT

Putin Warns Russia Could Drop Grain Deal after 60 Days

A worker loads a truck with grain at a terminal during barley harvesting in Odesa region, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine June 23, 2022. (Reuters)
A worker loads a truck with grain at a terminal during barley harvesting in Odesa region, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine June 23, 2022. (Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed on Monday that Moscow has agreed to extend a deal allowing the exports of Ukrainian grain to global markets only for 60 days and could drop it altogether if its conditions aren't met.

Speaking at a parliamentary meeting in Moscow attended by lawmakers from African countries, Putin emphasized that Russia expects the facilitation of exports of its own agricultural products as part of a package agreement.

“A fair and comprehensive implementation of the Black Sea grain deal can only be ensured if our position is taken into account, and depending on that we will deal with the issue of our further participation in it,” Putin said.

The UN and Türkiye brokered July's agreement that allowing Ukraine — one of the world’s key breadbaskets — to ship food and fertilizer from three of its Black Sea ports. The 120-day agreement was renewed last November. Russia agreed to extend it again when it expired Saturday, but noted that it has only accepted a 60-day extension.

Ukraine has charged that the 60-day extension contradicts the deal, but the agreement allows the parties to roll it over or “modify” it — as Russia did. The United Nations and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed the extension, but neither said how long it would last, reflecting their inability to force Russia's hand.

Moscow has voiced frustration that a parallel agreement has failed to fully open the door to Russian exports of grain and fertilizer through the Black Sea. Still, overall Russian wheat shipments were at or near record highs in November, December and January, increasing 24% over the same three months a year earlier, according to financial data provider Refinitiv.

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that 25 million metric tons (about 28 millions tons) of grain and foodstuffs had moved to 45 countries under the initiative, helping to bring down global food prices and stabilizing markets.

Putin used Monday's conference attended by African lawmakers to press the long held Russian claim that a significant part of grain exported under the deal was sent to “well-stocked” European markets and only a fraction ended up in African markets.

He added that if Russia decides not to extend the deal after 60 days it will be ready to provide African countries with free grain.

Food prices surged to record highs after Russian troops rolled into Ukraine last February, helping contribute to a global food crisis also tied to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate factors like drought.

The disruption in shipments of grain needed for staples of diets in places like Egypt, Lebanon and Nigeria exacerbated economic challenges and helped push millions more people into poverty or food insecurity. People in developing countries spend more of their money on basics like food.

The crisis left an estimated 345 million people facing food insecurity, according to the UN’s World Food Program.



Biden Says Israel Recovers Bodies of 6 Hostages in Gaza, Including Goldberg-Polin

(FILES) An image grab from a video released by the media office of the Palestinian group Hamas on April 24, 2024, shows an Israeli-American man who identified himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, speaking to a camera. (Photo by Hamas Media Office / various sources / AFP)
(FILES) An image grab from a video released by the media office of the Palestinian group Hamas on April 24, 2024, shows an Israeli-American man who identified himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, speaking to a camera. (Photo by Hamas Media Office / various sources / AFP)
TT

Biden Says Israel Recovers Bodies of 6 Hostages in Gaza, Including Goldberg-Polin

(FILES) An image grab from a video released by the media office of the Palestinian group Hamas on April 24, 2024, shows an Israeli-American man who identified himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, speaking to a camera. (Photo by Hamas Media Office / various sources / AFP)
(FILES) An image grab from a video released by the media office of the Palestinian group Hamas on April 24, 2024, shows an Israeli-American man who identified himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, speaking to a camera. (Photo by Hamas Media Office / various sources / AFP)

Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including that of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, US President Joe Biden said late on Saturday.
"Earlier today, in a tunnel under the city of Rafah, Israeli forces recovered six bodies of hostages held by Hamas," Biden said in a statement issued by the White House. "I am devastated and outraged."
The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that the bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino had been brought to Israel.
Hamas and its armed wing did not immediately comment on the accusations, Reuters said.
At least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 injured in Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, the enclave's health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The war was triggered when Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
On Saturday, clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin. Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.
Goldberg-Polin, captured at a music festival near Gaza, appeared in a video released by Hamas in late April.
"He had just turned 23. He planned to travel the world," Biden said. His parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, "have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable," Biden said.
Biden vowed that "Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages."