MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. Russia expects another record harvest this year and is ready to replace Ukrainian grain supplies both on a commercial and free basis, Russian President Vladimir Putting said in his article, "Russia and Africa: Joining Efforts for Peace, Progress and a Successful Future."
"I want to give assurances that our country is capable of replacing the Ukrainian grain both on a commercial and free-of-charge basis, especially as we expect another record harvest this year," reads the article published on the Kremlin website on Monday.
According to the Russian leader, Moscow committed itself to facilitating the implementation of the grain initiative which was originally meant to ensure global food security and reduce the threat of hunger and help the poorest countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
"This ‘deal’, however, while it was publicly advertised by the West as a gesture of goodwill that benefited Africa, has in fact been shamelessly used solely for the enrichment of large US and European businesses that exported and resold grain from Ukraine," Putin emphasized.
In almost a year, he explained, a total of 32.8 million metric tons of supplies were exported from Ukraine under the "deal," with over 70% of the exports ending up in high-and upper-middle-income countries, including in the European Union, while such countries as Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, as well as Yemen and Afghanistan, received less than 3% of the supplies, or less than one million metric tons.
"Considering all these facts, there is no longer any use in continuing the `grain deal’ as it has failed to serve its original humanitarian purpose. We argued against further extending the `deal’, which terminated as of July 18," Putin concluded.
The second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum is slated for July 27-28 in St. Petersburg. The first such event was held in Sochi on October 22-24, 2019 under the slogan "For peace, security and development.".