MOSCOW: Russia halted participation on Monday in the year-old UN-brokered deal which lets Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea, just hours after a blast knocked out Russia's bridge to Crimea in what Moscow called a strike by Ukrainian sea drones.
Russia said two civilians were killed and their daughter wounded in what Moscow cast as a terrorist attack on the road bridge, a major artery for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said there was no link between the attack and its decision to suspend the grain deal, over what it called a failure to meet its demands to implement a parallel agreement easing rules for its own food and fertiliser exports.
"In fact, the Black Sea agreements ceased to be valid today," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. "Unfortunately, the part of these Black Sea agreements concerning Russia has not been implemented so far, so its effect is terminated."
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the grain deal's sponsor, said he still believed Putin wanted it to continue.
"I hope that with this discussion, we can make some progress and continue on our way without a pause," Erdogan said.
Russia's foreign ministry said it would consider rejoining the grain deal if it saw "concrete results" on its demands.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy raised the prospect of resuming grain exports without Russia's participation, suggesting Kyiv would seek Türkiye's support to effectively negate the Russian de facto blockade imposed last year.
"Even without the Russian Federation, everything must be done so that we can use this Black Sea corridor. We are not afraid," spokesperson Serhiy Nykyforov quoted Zelenskiy as saying.
"We were approached by companies, ship-owners. They said that they are ready, if Ukraine lets them go, and Türkiye continues to let them through, then everyone is ready to continue supplying grain."
The blast on the road bridge to Crimea could have a direct impact on Moscow's ability to supply its troops in southern Ukraine, and reveals the vulnerability of Russia's own Black Sea infrastructure to devices such as seaborne drones: small, fast remote-controlled boats packed with explosives.
The grain deal was hailed as preventing a global food emergency when it was brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye last year.
Putin had threatened last week to walk out of the grain deal, while also saying Russia could return to it "immediately" if its demands were met. — Reuters
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