A senior Turkish official hailed the first shipment of Ukrainian grain since the beginning of Russia’s military campaign to overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a victory against the threat of famine and rising food prices.
“Even the signing of the deal has halted the upward trend, and now we will gradually see that there is a relaxation in market prices,” Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus said Wednesday.
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A cargo ship bearing 26,000 tons of corn cleared inspections in Istanbul in the first test of a process established following talks between Turkey, Russia, and the United Nations. The shipment, bound for Lebanon, could portend the easing of a food crisis that threatens countries across Africa with the mass devastation of famine — a prospect that Russian officials have characterized as a “quiet weapon” that the Kremlin can wield against countries that undercut Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Given the fact that there is around 25 million tons of grain here and that fresh crops will be arriving, a serious problem, particularly in terms of supply security, will be overcome,” Mus said.
U.S. and U.N. officials expressed more cautious optimism. The U.N.’s Joint Coordination Center, after the cargo ship cleared a joint inspection conducted by Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, and U.N. officials, touted the shipment as “proof of concept” reinforcing the reliability of a deal reached in July.
“The team carried out a three hour inspection and confirmed that crew and cargo are as authorized and consistent with the information the JCC received before the vessel sailed from Odesa,” the U.N. team said. “The JCC will use this voyage in its ongoing work on fine tuning procedures and processes to enable the continuation of safe passage of commercial vessels across the Black Sea under the Initiative.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken allowed that this initial shipment “raises hope of bringing the millions of tons of grain stuck at Ukraine’s ports to those facing food insecurity around the world” and praised Turkey and the U.N. for brokering the deal.
“But this is only a first step, and continued implementation of the July 21 U.N.-facilitated deal is essential to bolster food security around the world,” Blinken added. “Russia must meet its commitments, including by facilitating unimpeded exports of agricultural products from Black Sea ports. Russia must also end its attacks that are rendering farmland in Ukraine unusable and destroying agricultural infrastructure.”
Zelensky touted the deal as a chance to forestall another food crisis within Ukraine’s borders next year.
“Export this year is needed so that our farmers and agricultural companies have sufficient resources for next year’s sowing,” he said Tuesday. “This is a matter of food security for our country as well — we are now ensuring next year. … Every [bit of the money] earned by our agricultural workers and all the restored international ties of Ukraine will contribute to the strengthening of our state.”
He suggested that the continuation of the shipments is a setback for Russian officials, who “understand that they are losing one of the opportunities to terrorize the world.” Russian and Western officials have blamed each other for the food crisis in a bid to curry favor with the impoverished countries that can function as swing votes at the U.N. U.S. and European officials attributed the food shortages to Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain shipments, while Moscow claimed that the crisis stemmed from sanctions that interfered with Russian food and fertilizer trade.
Russian officials agreed to allow inspected ships out of the Ukrainian ports after the European Union revised some of the sanctions imposed on Russian banks to make clear that the financial institutions could process transactions related to Russian exports.
“Russia provoked the food crisis in order to use the supply of wheat, corn, oil as a weapon … just as it is already doing with gas and crude oil,” Zelensky said. “Russia creates a deficit, instigates the increase in prices, and when this provokes social unrest, it demands political concessions. It should not work with food.”
Turkish officials hailed the deal as a victory for their diplomacy and economy. “With the opening of this corridor, the raw materials that are needed will arrive,” Mus said. “Along with this raw material that it will process, Turkey, as an exporter country, will be one of the countries that will be contributing to solving the supply shortage that may occur in the world.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are expected to discuss the grain shipment process later this week.
“Let’s see how the grain initiative will work in the coming days,” Zelensky said.
