European Union condemns Russia's exit from Ukraine grain pact, pledges alternative routes
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, sharply condemned Russia's withdrawal from the grain agreement and stated that the European Union will continue to help with the sale of Ukrainian agricultural products using "solidarity lanes", according to her post on Twitter.
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"I strongly condemn Russia’s cynical move to terminate the Black Sea Grain Initiative, despite UN and Türkiye’s efforts," said the President of the European Commission.
She emphasized that the European Union is working to ensure food security for the vulnerable populations of the world.
"The EU solidarity lanes will continue bringing agrifood products out of Ukraine and to global markets," von der Leyen promised.
REFERENCE. The European Union announced the creation of solidarity lanes in May 2022, when for the first time the question of unblocking the export of Ukrainian grain and other products, which could not leave the ports due to Russia's war against Ukraine, arose.
"Capacity of transport networks and transhipment terminals: Ukrainian agricultural export shipments should be prioritised, and infrastructure managers should make rail slots available for these exports. The Commission also calls on market players to urgently transfer mobile grain loaders to the relevant border terminals to speed up transhipment," the European Commission said at the time.
In October 2022, Russia withdrew from the grain agreement for the first time, but Turkey and the UN began to carry out inspections of vessels with Ukrainian grain themselves, which made Russia quickly change its mind.
On Monday, Russia again announced its withdrawal from the agreement until its demands are met.
The last vessel within the grain agreement, the TQ Samsun bulker with corn bound for the Netherlands, left the port of Odesa on Sunday. In total, since the beginning of July, only eight ships with 291,000 tons of agricultural products left the Black Sea ports.