DISINFO: Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative because of hypocritical West
SUMMARY
Claims that Russia wants to cause hunger are cheap propaganda. Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative due to the West’s incoherent, hypocritical and cynical stance, as the richest countries, those with the highest GDP, used this humanitarian initiative for their own benefit, preventing a significant percentage of this exported grain from reaching the intended recipients, those in the direst need.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative targeting the Black Sea Grain Initiative, aiming to shift blame on the EU and other western nations for Russia’s withdrawal from the BSGI deal.
Russia wants to destroy Ukraine's agriculture export and its economy. Unilateral withdrawal from the BSGI is just one tool in this game. This is obvious after weeks of Russian bombardements of Ukrainian ports, grains storage and export facilities and threatening cargo ships in the Black Sea. Russia has shown that it does not care about the international supply of grain.
Simultaneous with the withdrawal from the deal, the Russian army spent several days attacking Ukrainian silos and facilities in the Black Sea ports of Odessa and Mykolayiv, as well as Danube storage sites and ports, destroying more than 60,000 tons of grain.
This destruction is more than Putin's so-called offer to provide 25.000 - 50.000 tonnes of grain over 3 months to six African countries; an offer he made at the Russia-africa summit 27-28 July 2023.
This disinformation allegation also grossly misrepresents the goal of the BSGI, which was to bring back supply of Ukrainian grains to the global markets, and this way drive down prices that hit the poorest the most. The initiative succeeded in reducing global food prices by over 23 per cent between March 2022 and July 2023.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the Grain Deal was used to deliver weapons to Ukraine, that most grain of the BSGI was sent to Europe, not Africa, or that the West swallowed food from Ukraine like a vacuum cleaner and disregarded the poorest countries. See also our accounts of the recent Russian disinfo claims at the end of July 2023 here and here as well as our debunk of Putin's article to the Russia-Africa summit.
This disinformation story appeared in the same TV programme as the claim that “The BSGI became a business for EU countries who hoarded the grain”