Kremlin Warns Against Black Sea Grain Exports Without Deal In Place

Comments from the Kremlin hitting wires warning that a potential plan by Ukraine and Turkey to continue operating Black Sea grain exports would carry "risks" without security guarantees in place from Russia as the "relevant waters are used by Ukraine for military activities."

• The Kremlin pushed back against statements from the US and EU yesterday which were critical of Moscow's decision to withdraw from the deal saying, "Moscow fulfilled its obligations."
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday countered Moscow’s claims that the deal unreasonably hindered Russian agriculture exports, saying: “As we have consistently made clear, no G7 sanctions are in place on Russian food and fertilizer exports.”
• Blinken said that, in the absence of a formal deal, “we’ll look at what else can be done to find other ways to get Ukrainian food products on the world market,” but conceded that “it's really hard to replace what’s now being lost as a result of Russia weaponizing food.”
• Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that Russia would resume participation “as soon as the relevant agreements are fulfilled,” but today's comments failed to provide clarity on conditions which need to be met.