Russian official says Ukraine must stop using grain corridor for 'terrorist attacks'

A senior Russian official says Ukraine must stop using a grain export corridor for "terrorist attacks," a few days after Moscow pulled out of a UN-brokered deal reached to facilitate grain deliveries.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said on Tuesday that the deal could not be revived as long as its humanitarian corridor was being used for "terrorist attacks" on Russian vessels.

"The use of the security corridor for terrorist attacks on ships of the (Russian) Black Sea Fleet is unacceptable. There can be no grain deal on the previous terms," he said in a Telegram post.

Back on July 22, Moscow and Kiev reached an agreement in Istanbul, mediated by the United Nations and Turkey, to resume grain exports from three of Ukraine's Black Sea ports, aiming to put an end to a standoff that had exposed millions to the risk of starvation.

The deal allowed Ukraine to resume grain shipments, which had stopped after Russia imposed a blockade on Ukraine's southern ports following the invasion of the country on February 24.

In the weekend, the Kremlin alleged that Ukraine, helped by British navy "specialists," launched an attack near Sevastopol using 16 drones in the early hours of Saturday, prompting Russia's Defense Ministry to announce that Moscow would suspend "participation in the implementation of agreements on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports."

The United Kingdom has rejected the allegation. Kiev has neither confirmed nor denied it was behind that attack.

Volodin further said on Tuesday that Moscow had given Kiev "the opportunity to export grain... to the most needy countries in Africa and Asia" but those countries had gotten no more than four percent of the total exported volume, claiming that most of it had gone to wealthy countries in the European Union.

Russia says grain shipments via Black Sea ‘risky’ after withdrawal from Ukraine deal

In July, Moscow and Kiev had agreed to resume grain exports from Ukraine

Separately, and also on Tuesday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that Moscow would continue to take part in efforts to revive the deal.

The Russian premier, who was speaking at an online conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), added that Moscow had been "forced to suspend" its participation, and would continue dialog with the UN and Turkey on its resumption.

This is while Kiev has already said negotiations with the Russians are "a waste of time," claiming that Moscow had long planned to abandon the internationally-brokered deal.

Three more vessels left Ukrainian ports on Tuesday, said the UN-led center coordinating the Black Sea grain export deal, despite Russia's withdrawal from the deal. According to the center, the ships' movement had been agreed by Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN, while Russia was "informed."

A day earlier, 12 ships carrying 354,500 tons of food had sailed from Ukraine.

Ukraine, which is a major exporter of corn, barley, sunflower oil, and rapeseed oil, used to export most of its goods through its main ports on the Black and Azov Seas, but since the start of the Russian offensive, it has been forced to export by train or via its small Danube River ports.

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