It is necessary to obtain guarantees from Kyiv that the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports will not be used for hostilities against Russia in order to discuss a grain deal. This was announced on Monday, October 31, by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during telephone conversations with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. This post was posted on official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
“The parties discussed the situation around the terrorist action committed by Ukraine on October 29 against warships and civilian ships in Sevastopol. During the conversation, Lavrov outlined the need to ensure the receipt of guarantees from Ukraine on the non-use of the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports, identified in the interests of the export of agricultural products, to conduct hostilities against the Russian Federation.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that only under such conditions is it possible to discuss the issue of resuming movement along the security corridor defined by the Black Sea Initiative.
The parties agreed on the need for the UN and Western countries to take additional measures to implement the package deal in the part that concerns Russian fertilizers and agricultural products.
The Foreign Ministers of Russia and Turkey also discussed possible steps to help resolve the situation in the South Caucasus.
Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin, after trilateral talks between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Sochi, called for security guarantees from Ukraine as part of a grain deal. The Russian leader recalled that the UN was one of the organizers of the grain deal, so it is the international organization that should carry out some work on this issue with Ukraine.
Two days earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Moscow had suspended its participation in the grain deal after the Kyiv authorities attacked ships in Sevastopol. On this day, ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet repelled an attack by unmanned aerial vehicles in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay.
The official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, said at the same time that nine unmanned aerial vehicles and seven autonomous marine drones were involved in the attack.
The UN announced its readiness to investigate the attack. On the same day, Putin thanked the sailors who repelled the attacks in the Black Sea. He added that both underwater and aerial drones partially walked in the corridor along which grain is exported from Ukraine.
The food deal was concluded on July 22 in Istanbul. Then Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and UN Secretary General António Guterres signed a memorandum on facilitating the supply of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets. At the same time, the Ukrainian delegation signed an agreement with Turkey and the UN on the export of grain.
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