PRAGUE- Ukraine strongly opposes the imposition of any restrictions on the import of its grain by neighboring countries after a European Union ban ends on Sept. 15, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday.
After the Russian invasion blocked Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, large quantities of the country’s grain – which is cheaper than EU crops – stayed in Central Europe due to logistical bottlenecks, hitting prices and sales for local farmers.
The EU in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds until Sept. 15, while allowing transit of cargoes for export elsewhere.
The five countries want the ban extended until the end of the year and some have threatened to introduce their own restrictions if Brussels does not act.
Kuleba said Kyiv was “adamantly against” any such steps.
“This move will violate rules of common market,” he said during a visit to the Czech capital Prague. “This move will violate the Ukraine-EU association agreement…it will go against the principle of solidarity.”
He said Ukraine was ready to seek solutions but that grains should not be hostage to domestic political processes in the countries involved.
Meanwhile, the passage of a second ship from Ukraine along a temporary Black Sea corridor has nothing to do with the prospects for reviving a grain deal involving Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Kyiv said on Sunday a vessel carrying steel products to Africa had left Ukraine’s port of Odesa through a temporary “humanitarian” corridor in the Black Sea, the second ship to do so since Russia withdrew last month from a UN-brokered deal that had allowed for grain to be safely exported.
At a regular Kremlin briefing, Peskov reaffirmed Moscow’s stance that reviving the grain deal would depend on whether the West delivered on promises regarding Russia’s own grain and fertiliser exports.
“The prospects for the renewal of the grain deal depend on the actual implementation, not just in words, of the promises, the pledges given to the Russian side, which means implementing the part of the deal pertaining to Russia,” Peskov said.
Russia’s grain and fertiliser exports are not subject to sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow over its military actions in Ukraine. But Russia says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have remained a barrier to shipments.
Kyiv announced the “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea earlier this month to release cargo ships that have been trapped in its ports since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
“That (temporary corridor) is a totally different matter, (to the grain deal) and our defence ministry is monitoring it as necessary,” Peskov said.
