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Russia indefinitely suspended the "grain deal" with Ukraine and convenes the UN Security Council

31.10.2022
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63439760

Two Russian ministries said that the Russian Federation "for an indefinite period" suspends its participation in the agreement on unblocking the southern ports of Ukraine for food exports, concluded with the mediation of the UN and Turkey. The reason for this, Russia called "massive air and sea strikes" on the ships of the Russian Federation that were on duty in the area of ​​the "grain corridor".
According to Russia’s version, voiced first by the Ministry of Defense and then by the Foreign Ministry, on Saturday “Ukrainian armed forces, under the cover of a humanitarian corridor [...] launched massive air and sea strikes using unmanned aerial vehicles against ships and infrastructure of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at a naval base in the Sevastopol". At the same time, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the attack was carried out by "Ukrainian armed forces led by British specialists."
Now the Russian Federation cannot ensure the security of the sea corridor and therefore closes it unilaterally, added in Moscow. A few hours after the statements of the Russian departments, Russian Deputy Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky wrote in Telegram that Russia had officially notified the UN Secretary General of the suspension of participation in the deal and "requested a meeting of the UN Security Council on this subject for Monday, October 31."
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said they had managed to pick up the wreckage of naval drones in the attack zone on ships in Sevastopol. The military department claims that the drones were launched from the coast near Odessa, and Canadian navigation modules were installed on them. According to the ministry, the drones moved along a safe corridor organized as part of the "grain deal", and then changed their route and headed towards the Russian ships' base in Sevastopol.
Drones, according to the Ministry of Defense, launched "the Kyiv regime under the leadership of representatives of the UK." This, according to the Russian military, was established "based on the results of restoring the information read from the memory of the navigation receiver." Their experts suggest that the drones were launched from aboard one of the civilian ships "chartered by Kyiv or its Western patrons for the export of agricultural products from the seaports of Ukraine."
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the preparation of the attack was carried out "under the guidance of British specialists located in the city of Ochakov, Mykolaiv region of Ukraine." At the same time, the Russian authorities accused the same "British specialists" of organizing the blowing up of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
London has already called these claims untrue. “To divert attention from their own failed actions in the course of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense has resorted to spreading false statements on an incredible scale,” the UK Ministry of Defense said. “This made-up story says more about the disputes that are going on in the Russian government than about West".

 

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