Grain deal expires today

The grain deal, which has guaranteed the safe transport of Russian-occupied Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea since last year, will expire today if Russia does not agree to extend the deal.

The agreement was signed under the mediation of the United Nations (UN) and Turkey in order to combat the world food crisis that intensified with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The last ship carrying grain under the agreement left Ukraine yesterday. Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February last year and blocked the country’s Black Sea ports. As a result, world grain prices rose sharply.

Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s largest grain exporters. Ukraine has exported about 33 million tons of corn, wheat and other grain products since the agreement came into force.

Russia, which threatened to pull out of the deal on the grounds that its demands to export its own grain and fertilizer products were not being met, reacted by saying that poor countries were not getting enough grain.

The UN, for its part, affirmed that the agreement benefited the aforementioned countries by reducing world food prices by 20%.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Thursday that talks with Turkey have begun on a plan to ensure that Russian wheat, possibly processed by Turkey, reaches other countries regardless of the destination of the grain deal.