Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has said that Russia’s participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative is insufficient: for the initiative to work effectively, Russia must fulfil its obligations.

During a press conference at the ASEAN summit, Kuleba said that Russia’s participation in the Grain Initiative was insufficient if it remained on paper only and that measures had to be taken to ensure that Russian inspectors were not deliberately delaying supplies and thus causing global food costs to rise.

"Russia’s mere participation is not enough. It is important to make sure that Russian inspectors taking part in this initiative are acting in good faith and that they are not causing unnecessary delays while inspecting the vessels,"  Kuleba said during a press conference at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Cambodia

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister stressed that delays in inspections are to the detriment of African and Asian countries. He urged ASEAN member countries to "take all possible measures to stop Russia from playing hunger games with the world."

In response to a journalist’s question, Kuleba said that Russia has not submitted a request for a meeting between himself and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also present at the summit. However, if such a request is submitted, "we will carefully consider it," Kuleba said.

"There are no indications that Russia genuinely wants to hold negotiations. Sitting down at the negotiation table only for the sake of good press – we have already gone through this, we’ve done it, we’ve tried it," he added.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative is an agreement brokered by the UN with Russia and Turkey launched on 22 July to enable ships to transport grain and fertilisers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports. The initiative is set to expire on 19 November if Russia or Ukraine block its renewal.

On 2 November, Russia walked back its earlier decision to withdraw from the Grain Initiative after ships from the Russian Black Sea fleet were attacked. European Pravda wrote at the time that Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely to make a final decision on Russia’s participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative during the G20 summit [15-16 November – ed.].