VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia and the developing world had been “cheated” by a landmark grain deal designed to alleviate a looming food crisis and said he would look to revise its terms to limit the countries that can receive shipments.
Speaking at an economic forum in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, Putin took aim at the deal, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, saying Ukrainian grain exports were not going to the world’s poorest countries as originally intended.
He warned of a global food crisis if the situation was not addressed, saying he would contact Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan to discuss possible restrictions on which countries can receive shipments.
“Once again, developing countries have simply been deceived and continue to be deceived. It is obvious that with this approach, the scale of food problems in the world will only increase … which can lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
Putin said only two of 87 ships, carrying 60,000 tonnes of products, went to poor countries, as he accused the West of acting as colonial states.
“Almost all the grain exported from Ukraine is sent not to the poorest developing countries, but to European Union countries,” Putin told an economic forum in the eastern city of Vladivostok on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s agriculture minister said on Wednesday it was not aware of any formal steps taken by Russia to amend the terms of the deal, which remains the only significant diplomatic breakthrough in the six-month conflict.
Putin also said some restrictions on Russia’s fertiliser exports had been eased, but “clever sanctions” were still complicating Russian trade.
Moscow says it was promised the removal of some logistical sanctions which it says disrupt its own exports of agricultural products and fertilisers, in exchange for easing the military blockade on Ukraine’s southern ports.
“There are no direct sanctions against products, but there are restrictions related to logistics, freight, payments and insurance. Many of these elements of restrictions remain,” Putin said.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Andrew Heavens and Philippa Fletcher)
