MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Ukraine's grain corridor” in the Black Sea sponsored by UN and Turkey resumes operations

Russia has finally agreed to resume the agreement allowing safe passage of Ukrainian crop exports, abruptly reversing course after Turkey and the United Nations pushed ahead with the shipments over Moscow’s objections.

Last Saturday, October 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the country’s pullout from the agreement after a drones attack suffered by the Russian fleet in the port of Sevastopol.

However shipments from Ukraine resumed last Wednesday, without the need for extra negotiations, and which allowed some ships to depart earlier in the week, according to Bloomberg News.

The coordinator of the Black Sea Grains Initiative, Amir Abdulla, welcomed Russia’s return to the agreement and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s efforts to re-establish the Ukrainian export corridor. Since July, Erdogan and United Nations officials have been helping with negotiations involving the corridor.

Furthermore this week UN suspended operations at the Joint Coordination Center, which monitors Ukrainian grain ships from Istanbul.