Grain initiative at risk of shutdown: Russia obstructs again Bosporus ship inspections

Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov, will visit Türkiye on Tuesday at the invitation of Türkiye's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to discuss the Black Sea Grain Initiative, as reported by European Pravda, citing the announcement by the Turkish Ministry of Defense. Kubrakov's visit to Türkiye coincides with an announcement by the Ukrainian Ministry of Community Development, Territories, and Infrastructure Development that Russia is blocking the grain deal. Since 10 April, the Russian side of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul has unilaterally ceased registering vessels submitted by Ukrainian ports for an inspection plan. In the meantime, the Russians began formulating their own inspection plan by selecting vessels from the queue at their discretion.

"Consequently, for the second time in the nine-month duration of the Grain Initiative, no inspection plan has been developed, and not a single vessel have been inspected. This threatens the operation of the Grain Initiative," notes the Ministry.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure urged its partners, the UN and Türkiye, the grain deal guarantors, to "ensure that all parties in the JCC adhere to the procedures that have been in place for nine months." It is important to note that earlier the Ukrainian government announced the extension of the grain initiative for an additional 120 days on 18 March. Concurrently, Russia later announced a 60-day extension of the grain deal and threatened to terminate it entirely if its demands were not met. Read also:

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