Putin discusses grain exports with African leaders following deal exit

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted several African leaders on Thursday in a Saint Petersburg summit, days after pledging to provide free grain to the African countries that need it following Moscow’s exit from the Black Sea grain deal.

Seventeen African leaders, who have maintained support for Putin throughout his invasion of Ukraine, are participating in a two-day Russia-Africa summit starting from Thursday, holding bilateral talks with the Russian President while also seeking concrete commitments from Putin on grain supplies.

“I want to give assurances that our country is capable of replacing the Ukrainian grain both on a commercial and free-of-charge basis, especially as we expect another record harvest this year,” Putin said in an article on Monday.

Putin accused US and European trading firms of exploiting the grain deal to enrich their own businesses by reselling the Ukrainian grain to high and upper-middle income countries, saying that only three percent of the supplies had been exported to poorer countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia in Africa, as well as Yemen and Afghanistan in Asia.

“Russia has been actively conducting wheat diplomacy recently. In fact, many African countries who have until now been buying wheat from Ukraine and were planning to continue doing so this year, have no other choice but to turn to Russia now,” Rudaw's Kamiz Shadadi reported from the capital Moscow.

The grain deal, signed between Kyiv and Moscow in July last year, allowed for the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea for the first time since the start of Russia’s invasion. Russia withdrew from the grain deal last week, sparking concern over a global food crisis and threat to Ukraine’s farming industry.

“This is a new obstacle for Ukraine, because wheat harvesting season in most parts of the country is over and farmers are left helpless,” Rudaw’s Dilnya Rahman reported from the frontlines of Kyiv, adding that Ukraine has submitted proposals to European countries to allow them to export their grain through land routes.

Russia is the world’s top wheat exporter and Ukraine is known to be the breadbasket of Europe, with the Middle Eastern states heavily relying on Ukrainian agricultural products. Further disruptions to exports threaten global food security.

The deal allowed for nearly 33 million tons of grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports to the global market, according to AFP.

Kamiz Shadadi in Moscow and Dilnya Rahman in Kyiv contributed to this report. 

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