EU condemns Moscow’s decision to terminate Black Sea Grain Initiative: ‘Russia continues weaponizing food’

On 17 July, the European Union unequivocally condemned Russia’s decision to terminate the Black Sea Grain Initiative and urged Moscow to reconsider its decision.

“With its decision, Russia is further exacerbating the global food security crisis it created by its war of aggression against Ukraine and its blockade of Ukrainian sea ports. Russia must cease illegally blocking Ukrainian sea ports and allow freedom of navigation on the Black Sea,” says the statement released by the Council of the European Union.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, together with the EU-Ukraine ‘Solidarity Lanes’, helped to stabilise and lower unprecedented high food prices caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, helping vulnerable populations in need.

According to the EU, the Black Sea Grain Initiative has allowed the safe export of nearly 33 million tonnes of grain and foodstuffs to 45 countries by over a thousand vessels. This includes 725,000 tonnes of grain shipped by vessels chartered by the World Food Programme (WFP) in support of its humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen. Even throughout the war, Ukraine remained the WFP’s biggest supplier of wheat in 2022, supplying more than half the WFP’s global wheat grain procurement.

“All this is at risk now. Russia continues weaponizing food,” says the EU. “By terminating the agreements, Russia is single-handedly blocking one of the crucial main export routes from Ukraine of grains for human consumption, and is solely responsible for disruptions of grain deliveries worldwide and fuelling food price inflation globally.”

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Press release