On Wednesday, 2 November, Russia resumed its participation in the international agreement on Ukrainian grain exports after receiving “written guarantees” from Ukraine that the corridor used to transport the shipments would be demilitarised.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose country is a guarantor of this crucial agreement for global food supplies, confirmed that Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea would resume via this secure corridor.
“Russia considers that the received guarantees are at the moment sufficient and is resuming the implementation of the agreement,” indicated the Russian Ministry of Defence.
Moscow had suspended its participation in the grain deal on 29 October after a drone attack on its fleet based in Sevastopol Bay, in annexed Crimea.
A series of phone calls between Russian and Turkish officials over the last few days—notably between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin on 1 November—and the intercession of the United Nations (UN), the agreement’s other guarantor, appear to have convinced Moscow to reconsider its position.
Immediately afterwards, Turkey announced that grain exports would resume. The West had strongly denounced Moscow’s suspension of the agreement that had been signed in July, while Kyiv had denounced [the move as] a false pretext and called for pressure to be put on the Kremlin so that it would respect its commitments once again (see EUROPE 13054/7). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)