Putin: Black Sea Grain Deal Has Become Meaningless

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Black Sea Grain Agreement had lost its meaning and that is why Russia was withdrawing from it. Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote in an article published early Monday that Russia was withdrawing from the Black Sea Grain Agreement, which ensures the safe export of Ukrainian grain, because the agreement had lost its meaning. "The continuation of the 'grain agreement', which does not fulfill its humanitarian purpose, has lost its meaning," Putin said, according to the article on the Kremlin's website. Last week, Moscow withdrew from the agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports despite the war a year ago to ease the global food crisis. Stating that Russia's conditions for extending the agreement were being ignored, Putin said in his remarks ahead of the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg on Thursday and Friday: "I want you to be sure that our country is able to replace both the commercial and the free part of Ukrainian grain. We expect a record harvest this year."