US President Joe Biden on Saturday described Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in an agreement on grain exports from Ukrainian ports, vital to the global food supply, as a scandal.
“It’s just a scandal. There was no reason to do that,” Biden said, speaking to the press, after voting early in the US midterm elections in Wilmington, Delaware.
Russia announced, on Saturday, the suspension of its participation in the agreement to export grain from Ukrainian ports after an attack by “unmanned aircraft” (remotely controlled drones) targeting the Russian fleet stationed in the Sevastopol Bay in the Crimea.
The United Nations said it was making efforts to preserve the agreement, with Ukraine accusing Russia of the “false excuse” to attack Crimea to justify suspending the agreement, and pressing Moscow to “respect its obligations”.
The deal, struck in July under the auspices of the United Nations and Turkey, allowed the export of several million tons of grain held in Ukrainian ports since the Russian invasion in February, driving up food prices, raising fears of hunger.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up his criticism of the deal, noting that exports from Russia, another major grain producer, have been hit by the sanctions.
Crimea, which Russia annexed in March 2014 after the intervention of its special forces and a referendum condemned by Kyiv and the West, serves as the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and as a logistical rear base for the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
