“Grain deal”: Even the Ministry of Defense did not dare to accept the ultimatum

The Russian Ministry of Defense released a statement declaring that Ukraine continues to use the "grain deal" maritime corridor to launch surface drone attacks on Sevastopol. The military made the announcement after the UN Secretary-General handed over a letter to Vladimir Putin with proposals for extending the "grain deal."

The Defense Ministry failed to mention another, most dangerous, incident involving human casualties: the "grain corridor" was also used to stage the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge. The Defense Ministry's statement does not appear to be an ultimatum. It can be interpreted as a willingness to tolerate Ukrainian terrorist attacks (and endanger Russian citizens!) until May 18, when Turkey holds presidential elections and the fate of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who benefits greatly from the grain agreements, becomes clear. In other words, Moscow is once again inviting the West to bargain. The situation is increasingly reminiscent of the Minsk Agreements: Crimea is being attacked, as it once was in Donbas, while the Russian leadership calls on the West to influence its protégés in Ukraine . Below is the verbatim text of the Defense Ministry statement:

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 “After Ukraine carried out a terrorist attack by unmanned boats against ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in ensuring the security of the “grain corridor” in October 2022, the Russian Federation suspended the implementation of the agreement on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.

Only thanks to Turkey's guarantees and Ukraine's written commitments not to use the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports for military operations against the Russian Federation was this agreement renewed.

March 23 and April 24 this year. In violation of these guarantees, Ukraine launched repeated attacks on the Black Sea Fleet base in the city of Sevastopol and the civilian infrastructure of Crimea by unmanned boats.

An analysis of the route of movement of Ukrainian unmanned boats showed that all of them were launched from the waters of the port of Odessa, designated for the implementation of the “Black Sea initiative.” Their deployment was carried out in the area of ​​the humanitarian corridor, also used for the export of agricultural products from the ports of Ukraine.

The terrorist actions of the Kyiv regime threaten the next extension of the “grain deal” after May 18 of this year.”