Bowen said at a press conference, Monday:
• “Ukraine must ensure that there will be no threat to the security of civilian ships.”
• “Kyiv uses the grain corridor to launch the attack,” which he attributed to it and based on it to justify his withdrawal from the Ukrainian grain export agreement.
• “Ukraine launched this attack on the Black Sea Fleet. They posed a danger to our ships and to civilian ships.”
• “Russia did not withdraw from the agreement, but suspended its commitment to it.”
Moscow announced that Russian Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed the matter during a telephone conversation on Monday.
A statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that “Lavrov stressed that Ukraine must guarantee that it will not use the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports designated for the export of agricultural products, to carry out military operations against Russia.”
And he continued, “Only in these circumstances can we consider resuming movement in the safe corridor.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar also discussed the same matter on Monday.
The agreement, signed by Kyiv and Moscow on July 19 under the auspices of the United Nations and Turkey, allowed the export of Ukrainian grain to avoid a global food crisis as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.
The agreement specified a safe passage for ships carrying grain to pass to Istanbul for inspection.
The agreement has allowed the export of more than 9.5 million tons of Ukrainian grain so far, and is supposed to be renewed on November 19.
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