Fact-Checking: Putin Lies About Reasons for Withdrawal from Grain Agreement

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, after meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on September 4, has continued to refuse to extend participation in the Black Sea grain agreement, exacerbating global food insecurity. He accused Ukraine of using grain routes for terrorist actions, stating: "While Russia clearly provided security guarantees for shipping under this agreement, the other side used these humanitarian routes for terrorist attacks against Russian civilian and military facilities." This claim is false, and there is currently no evidence that Ukraine has conducted attacks through the grain routes or used them for military purposes. Grain-carrying ships travel through this humanitarian route, which is 179 kilometers long and nearly five nautical miles wide, from the ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Yuzhny/Pivdenny to Turkish ports. Ships authorized to move in the route were required to remain there and only stop in designated routes or holding areas along the coasts of Ukraine and Turkey. The Joint Coordination Center (JCC), consisting of representatives from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations, monitored transportation in this route "using ground and satellite means." Russia exited this agreement in July of this year and has since used its Black Sea fleet for systematic attacks on food-exporting ports in Ukraine. Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, condemned Russia, stating that "these attacks have a widespread impact on global food security, especially in developing countries." Abraham Kuria Singh Oei, Kenya's Deputy Foreign Minister for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, tweeted in July that Moscow's withdrawal from the grain agreement is "a knife in the back of secure food prices for the world and disproportionately affects the Horn of Africa countries already facing drought." In October 2022, Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian fleet in the Black Sea in Sevastopol, the largest city in the Crimean Peninsula. Russia deemed those attacks as terrorist and against the grain agreement. While according to Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's Foreign Minister, these attacks occurred hundreds of kilometers away from the east of Sevastopol, the grain export route is located to the west of Sevastopol and is a total of 220 kilometers away from the attack sites. Moscow claims that the Kerch Bridge, which was attacked by Ukrainian drones, is a completely civilian target, but Ukraine argues that since Moscow uses this bridge as a logistical route for transferring military vehicles, artillery, ammunition, fuel, and personnel to the battlefield in Ukraine, this bridge is a legitimate military target. Ukraine and the United States have accused Russia of using its Black Sea fleet to attack civilian targets. This fleet can also be used to support Russian ground forces in occupied Ukrainian territories. After Russia bombarded Ukrainian ports, killed civilians, and destroyed grain, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. representative to the UN, accused Moscow of "waging war against global food supply." Following the Russian drone attacks on the port city of Odesa, three people were injured. Russia's warning about rejecting the Ukrainian grain export agreement. Russia's attempt to disrupt grain exports; the second nighttime attack by Russia on the port of Odesa in Ukraine. The Turkish President is negotiating to extend the Black Sea grain agreement.