The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has stated that Russia is failing the Black Sea Initiative with its systematic destructive actions, and this tendency is only enhancing now. 

"Representatives of the Russian Federation in inspection groups at the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul have been delaying the inspection of the ships that are going through the Bosphorus Strait to/from Ukrainian ports for the last several months. Russia's destructive policy has led to systematic reduction of cargo turnover within the Black Sea Initiative. The world has not received 10 million tonnes of Ukrainian products in the last three months, and this negative tendency is only increasing," states the Ministry on 15 February.

The Ministry has pointed out once again that food security of many countries in the world, including Africa and Asia, depends on the export of Ukrainian grain. 

"We call on the international community, including the UN and Turkey as guarantor of the Black Sea Initiative, to require the Russian Federation to immediately stop making artificial delays in the Black Sea Initiative, stop using food as weapons and unblock merchant shipping to Ukrainian ports of the Black Sea," the Ministry declared. 

At the end of October-beginning of November 2022, Russia threatened to leave the Black Sea Initiative and announced that it would not take part in it, but then it changed its mind and came back to the "grain agreement". 

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine denied the statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine had allegedly made some new commitments.  

Read more Re-Launching Grain Deal. How to Save Ukraine's Black Sea Exports after Russia's Demarche