Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of Russia’s trump cards remained the blackmail with hunger, namely manipulation of the possibility of transporting Ukrainian grain by sea. Immediately after the attack on the Crimean bridge, the Kremlin announced the suspension of the grain agreement. However, as it turned out, this trump card is no longer a trump card.
The time has come
According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Peskov, the decision to terminate the agreement was made even before the incident with the bridge, so it should not be considered a manipulation. Under his version, this is caused solely by the fact that the foreign partners have not fulfilled the requirements of Russia by July 17.
The Kremlin also reported that the agreement could start again after Russia is satisfied with the fulfillment of the conditions.
What are these special requirements?
From the end of spring 2022, the Russian Federation demands that, despite the sanctions, trade of the following Russian products will be allowed on the world market:
– fertilizers;
– agricultural products.
Since taxes from such agreements go to the military industry, the world community does not agree with the requested easing of sanctions.
The world draws conclusions
On the same day, many world politicians commented on the actions of the Kremlin. The comments include the following:
– Putin is ready to sacrifice the lives of millions of the least protected and most vulnerable people in the world;
– One cannot hope for adequate decisions of the Russian government, these people will stop at nothing.
Russia remains with nothing
Simultaneously with the comments, European politicians discovered another significant thing. Since Russia was considered an unreliable partner for a long time, the European Union prepared land routes for the transportation of grain from Ukraine in advance. Therefore, the effect of the termination of the grain agreement, which the Kremlin was counting on, did not occur.
It is planned that in the future these alternative routes will be expanded and improved to reduce transportation costs.
