Russia’s president said negotiations were under way to get grain to Africa. [Picture: Nasreen Naidoo/Salaamedia]
Vladimir Putin has once again lashed out at the West for not living up to their commitments in the Black Sea Grain Deal, which he exited in July. He reiterated an earlier promise to plug the gap with grain exports to Africa.
The Russian premier addressed delegates of the BRICS Business Forum on Tuesday. Although he was a no-show at the XV BRICS Summit, currently underway in Johannesburg, Putin spoke via videolink. Delegates offered thunderous applause as a coughing Putin began speaking.
“Russia is deliberately obstructed in the supply of grain and fertilisers abroad and at the same time they are hypocritically accusing us of the current crisis situation on the world market. This was clearly manifested in the implementation of the so-called grain deal,” he lamented.
The grain deal, brokered by the United Nations in 2022, saw the uninterrupted export of Ukrainian grain to the rest of the world via the Black Sea. After several extensions, Putin decided not to extend the deal over certain grievances. Africa was until then a major importer of grain from the warzone.
Said Putin, “None of the terms of the so-called deal, concerning the withdrawal from the sanctions of Russian exports of grain and fertilisers to world markets, was implemented. Obligations to Russia in this regard were simply ignored”.
SMread: XV BRICS Summit Live Blog
Replacing grain
At the Summit, Putin reiterated an earlier commitment to replace Ukrainian exports to Africa with that of Russia’s. He said his country had exported 11.5 million tonnes of grain to Africa in 2022 “despite the illegal sanctions imposed against us”.
“Russia is in favour of establishing closer cooperation within the BRICS framework on the issues of reliable and uninterrupted supply of energy and food resources to world markets. We are consistently increasing the supply of fuel, agricultural products and fertilisers to the states of the global south,” he said.
He said Russia was able to replace Ukrainian grain “on a commercial basis” as well as in the form of “gratuitous assistance to countries in need”. As a first step, he said, “we have decided to send 25,000-50,000 tonnes to six African countries free of charge, including free delivery of these goods”.
However, he said, Moscow would be willing to revive the deal “only if all obligations to the Russian side are actually fulfilled”. Meanwhile, Ukraine is looking at a Bulgarian alternative to the deal and Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to discuss the matter with Putin soon.
