On Wednesday, 2 November, Russia agreed to return to the so-called Black Sea grain deal, as confirmed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to him, Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu has informed Turkey’s Minister of Defence Hulusi Akar that as of Wednesday afternoon the agreement on the humanitarian grain corridor will continue as before.
The Turkish president said that the priority of the restored deal will be sending grain to African countries, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan,
because Russia is concerned that the majority of grain that has been exported since July went to wealthy countries.
Russian Ministry of Defence explains that the country agreed to return to the deal after receiving guarantees in writing from Kyiv that Ukraine will not use this corridor for military activities against Moscow.
Russian-Ukrainian grain deal came to be thanks to mediation from the UN and Turkey and was signed on 22 July. The first ship loaded with grain left the sea port of Odessa on 1 August.
Also read: Russia halts participation in Black Sea grain export deal