Russia's military said on Monday it wanted
'commitments'
from Ukraine not to use the grain export corridor for military purposes, after an attack on its fleet in Crimea and the suspension of the agreement for their delivery .
"There can be no question of guaranteeing the security of anything in this area until Ukraine makes additional commitments not to use this road for military purposes,"
the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
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“A collective extortion”
He called on the UN, guarantor of the Ukrainian grain deal signed in July, to help
“obtain guarantees from Ukraine not to use the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports designated for export of agricultural products for hostile acts against Russia".
The United States called this request
"collective extortion".
“It looks like either collective punishment or collective extortion
,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
Moscow has suspended the agreement allowing Ukrainian grain exports, essential for the world's food supply, after an attack carried out on Saturday with aerial and submarine drones on its fleet stationed in the Crimea, a peninsula annexed in 2014. According to the army Russian, this attack, which Moscow blamed on Ukraine with the help of British specialists, was carried out partly from the maritime corridor used for the transport of cereals.
"Pending clarification of the situation caused by the terrorist act committed by Ukraine on October 29 (...) the security corridor is suspended,"
the Russian army, whose ships were escorting the cargo ships, said on Monday.
Read alsoThe Russian fleet attacked by drones in Sevastopol
"The movement of ships along the Security Corridor is unacceptable, as the Ukrainian leadership and the Ukrainian army command use it to carry out combat operations against Russia
," he added.
Ukraine had denounced a
"pretext"
used by Moscow to suspend this agreement and London denied any involvement in the attack in Crimea.
Several ships loaded with Ukrainian grain continued to use the maritime corridor on Monday.
The Kremlin said it would be
“dangerous”
and
“difficult”
to continue implementing the deal without Moscow.