With the opening of the Istanbul control center for monitoring Ukrainian grain exports, a step has been taken to enable Ukraine to export food again. The country is one of the world’s largest grain exporters. More than 20 million tons of wheat and other varieties have been stuck in Ukrainian ports and silos since Moscow’s war of aggression began in February because of the Russian naval blockade in the Black Sea. According to a Turkish government official, the first ship is due to depart this week.
However, it is questionable whether the agreement mediated by Turkey and the United Nations (UN) will hold up. On the very day the control center opened, Russia called for the immediate removal of obstacles to its own agricultural exports. Otherwise the agreement will fail. This was reported by Interfax, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko. On the first day after the agreement, the Russian Navy attacked the port of Odessa, Ukraine’s most important export location, with cruise missiles.
The control center opened in Istanbul on Wednesday is part of the agreement signed on July 22 to prevent a global food shortage in poorer countries. The US government welcomed the opening of the center. John Kirby, Director of Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, thanked UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “We know it wasn’t easy.”
In the agreement, which is initially valid for 120 days, the Kremlin has pledged to let Ukrainian freighters through a sea corridor and not to attack the ships sailing there or their ports of departure. The Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne are listed in the agreement. The cargo ships are to be guided in convoys by a lead ship through the mine barriers laid by Ukraine in front of their own ports, in order to then reach the Mediterranean through the Black Sea and the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits. Turkey has sovereignty over the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles.
The rocket attack on Odessa’s port has raised doubts
The ships are to be controlled when entering and exiting the Bosphorus. This is to guarantee that they will not bring weapons into Ukraine. Five military and five civilian representatives from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN will work in the control center. According to Turkish information, the team will be led by a Turkish admiral. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar also attended the opening at a military university in Istanbul. Farhan Haq, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said in New York: “The UN Secretary-General said that under the agreement reached, Turkish personnel, with the support of the Joint Coordinating Committee, will carry out inspections of grain ships, while Ukrainians will ensure safe passage through the Black Sea will worry.”
But the Russian missile attack on the port of Odessa has raised doubts about whether Moscow’s promises can be believed. The Kremlin first denied the attack, but later justified it with the shelling of alleged military targets. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of “serious doubts about the credibility of the Russian commitment”.