Ukrainian Foreign Minister: Putin was forced to return to 'grain agreement', no security guarantees for Russian Black Sea Fleet were provided
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba commented on the Kremlin’s statements that in exchange for Russia’s return "grain agreement", Ukraine allegedly promised not to attack the Black Sea Fleet. The Minister recalled that Ukraine has never used the "green corridors" for military purposes and is not going to do so in the future.
"This guarantee is simply Russia's way of saving face. Russia returned to the Grain Initiative not because someone gave it any assurances, but because there was a lot of behind-the-scenes diplomacy on the part of the UN Secretary General and the President of Turkey," Kuleba said during an interview with Cadena SER. There wasn't a language of concessions. There was a language of power. If you talk to him [Putin] in this way and back up your words with actions, you can always win."
Kuleba recalled that before February 24, many world leaders made mistakes when talking to Vladimir Putin. They tried to appease him, to make concessions to him. However, the situation with the "grain agreement" showed that such mechanisms do not work, since the Kremlin understands only the language of force.
"If you start making concessions, it will come back biting you even more. In this situation, a coordinated position was coordinated between the UN, Turkey and Ukraine, and Russia returned to the Ukrainian initiative. But, as an argument to save face, they use security guarantees," explained the Ukrainian Foreign Minister. “But, as I have already said, Ukraine has never used this "green corridor" for military purposes. We have always been a reliable supplier of food to the world market, because, unlike Russia, we care about people."
On October 31, Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the Russian Federation suspends participation in the "grain agreement". However, as it turned out, not for long. On November 2, Turkey and the Russian Federation announced the resumption of the work of this "corridor".
Putin's allegedly made the decision to withdraw from the “grain deal” after the drone attack on Russian warships in the Sevastopol Bay. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in mid-October, Moscow has long been preparing the basis for withdrawing from the grain agreement.