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An unprecedented war deal that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a threat and high food prices are driving more people into poverty, officials said Saturday.
The extension was announced by the UN and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but no one has confirmed its length.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted that the deal was extended by 120 days – the length of time that Ukraine, Turkey and the UN wanted.
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Russia had notified all parties to the deal that it had been extended by 60 days.
This is the second renewal of separate agreements signed by Ukraine and Russia with the UN and Turkey to allow food to leave the Black Sea region after Russia attacked its neighbor more than a year ago.
The warring countries are the suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other affordable food products that developing countries depend on.
Russia has complained that shipments of fertilizer – also critical to the global food chain – are not reaching global markets, a long-standing issue in the deal first struck in August and renewed for four months in November.
The war in Ukraine sent food prices to their highest levels in the past year and helped contribute to the global food crisis, which is also linked to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate factors, such as drought.
Watch | Russia-Ukraine war increases global food insecurity:
Rosemary Barton Live spoke to the World Food Programme’s Chief Economist, Arif Husain, about how years of war have affected global food security and when to expect an extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Developing countries are in need
Disruptions in grain shipments needed for staple foods in places like Egypt, Lebanon and Nigeria add to economic challenges and help push millions into poverty or food insecurity.
People in developing countries spend more money on basics like food.
Food prices have fallen for 11 months, but food was already expensive before the war due to droughts from the Americas to the Middle East – especially in the Horn of Africa, with thousands killed in Somalia.
Poor countries that depend on imported food priced in dollars are spending more as their currencies weaken.
The crisis has left an estimated 345 million people facing food insecurity, according to the UN World Food Programme.
The Black Sea Wheat Initiative has helped by allowing 24 million metric tons of wheat to leave Ukrainian ports, with 55 percent of shipments going to developing countries, the UN said.
The agreement has also suffered setbacks since it was brokered by the UN and Turkey: Russia briefly backed out in November before rejoining and extending the deal. In the past few months, inspections meant to make sure ships only carry grain and no weapons have been slowed down.
That has helped lead to backlogs on boats waiting in the water from Turkey and a new drop in the amount of grain out of Ukraine. Ukrainians and some US officials blame Russia for the slowdown, which the country denies.
While fertilizers have been stuck, Russia has been exporting huge amounts of wheat after a record harvest.
Figures from financial data provider Refinitiv show that Russian wheat exports more than doubled to 3.8 million tonnes in January from the same month a year ago, before the invasion.
Putin marked the anniversary of the annexation
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Crimea on an unannounced visit to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine.
Putin was greeted by Russia’s installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, and taken to a children’s center and a new art school in what officials said was a surprise visit.
State media did not immediately broadcast any comments from Putin, a day after the International Criminal Court said it had issued an arrest warrant against him and accused him of war crimes for illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
Putin has yet to comment publicly on the move.
The spokesman called it “null and void,” and said Russia found the questions raised by the ICC to be “outrageous and unacceptable.”
Russia seized Crimea in 2014, eight years before launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine says it will fight to expel Russia from Crimea and all other territories that Russia has occupied in the years-long war.
Watch | ICC issues arrest warrant for Russian president:
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the commissioner for children’s rights. Both are wanted for war crimes related to the deportation of Ukrainian children during the Russian invasion.
Wagner Group is recruiting more mercenaries
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group plans to recruit about 30,000 new fighters by mid-May, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday.
He said in an audio message on Telegram that the recruitment center Wagner, which he said last week has been opened in 42 Russian cities, they hire an average of 500-800 people a day.
He did not provide evidence to support those numbers, which Reuters could not independently verify.
Prigozhin’s soldiers suffered heavy losses while leading the Russian effort to recapture the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which began last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the year.
In January, the United States estimated that Wagner had about 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, including 40,000 prisoners Prigozhin had recruited from Russian prisons with the promise of a free pardon if they lived for six months.
Ukrainian officials claim that around 30,000 Wagner fighters have deserted or been killed or wounded, a figure that could not be independently verified.
Listen | Explain the Wagner Group and the Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine:
Front burner27:25The Wagner Group: Putin’s ‘shadow private army’
The Wagner Group is a private army that has violently advanced Russia’s interests internationally – but in the shadows – for years. Now that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has stopped, mercenaries have taken center stage to fight on Russia’s side. Mercenaries have been involved in some of the bloodiest battles of all wars. Mary Ilyushina is a reporter covering Russia for the Washington Post. Today on Front Burner, he joins guest host Jodie Martinson to explain the evolution, and growing influence, of the Wagner Group in Russia and beyond.
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