Ukraine grain deal helping rich ‘colonialists’

MOSCOW. – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that “almost all” the Ukrainian grain shipped under a UN-backed deal to ease a global food crisis was reaching rich European nations and accused the West of deceiving developing countries.

Data compiled by a joint centre in Istanbul monitoring the July agreement showed slightly more than a third of the grain delivered to European countries and another 20% arriving in Turkey.

It also showed 30 percent reaching “low and lower-middle income countries” across the world.

More shipments are expected to start arriving in famine-stricken parts of Africa and the Middle East under the UN World Food Programme whose implementation is just getting underway.

But Moscow has voiced growing frustration with how the agreement was being applied.

An amendment to the deal also allowed Russia to get open access to fertiliser shipments and have some economic sanctions lifted to allow it to export its own grain.

The UN hailed the deal as the world’s best chance to ease an acute global food crisis stoked by the Black Sea grain blockade.

But Putin said its current implementation was helping richer European countries at the expense of the developing world.

“Almost all the grain exported from Ukraine is sent not to the poorest developing countries, but to EU countries,” he told an economic forum in Russia’s Pacific port of Vladivostok.

Both Ukraine and Russia are two of the biggest exporters of wheat and other grain.

Putin accused European countries of acting as “colonialists” and said they “once again simply deceived developing countries”.

“With this approach, the scale of food problems in the world will only grow.

“Maybe we should think about limiting the export of grain and other produce along this route?” Putin asked.

The July agreement brokered with the help of Turkey is valid for 120 days and may be automatically renewed without further negotiations.

But it requires both Moscow and Kyiv to sign off on an extension.

Data compiled as of Wednesday showed Turkey receiving the largest share of the grain – 20% – followed by Spain (15 percent) and Egypt (10 percent).

But much of the grain that reaches Turkey and some other destinations is then re-sold under commercial agreements not monitored by the Istanbul centre.

A separate famine relief effort spearheaded by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) is focused on delivering wheat and maize to Africa and other parts of the world suffering shortages. – AFP