On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s participation in the grain deal had been terminated with immediate effect, although it would return to it if commitments toward Moscow were fulfilled.
"Europe may soon experience a devastating migration crisis following Russia's decision to leave the deal. The biggest victim of higher grain prices and shortages in the developing countries will be the European Union," Yusuf Alabarda, a Turkish political expert and a representative of the M5 Strategy Journal, told Sputnik.
"We know very well that Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, and a couple of other African countries are mainly dependent on Ukrainian and Russian grain imports. Europe will be overwhelmed by migrants fleeing hunger."
Eugen Schmidt of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, in a commentary for Sputnik, also predicted a dire impact of the deal’s suspension for the European Union.
"Unfortunately, Western countries are deliberately provoking hunger in regions dependent on Ukrainian and Russian grain supplies, which will inevitably incite huge hungry masses to storm European borders," Schmidt said.
"It is unlikely that the ruling political elites of the EU do not understand what the failure of the grain deal threatens them with, but apparently they do not care at all about the impending hunger and the further flooding of Europe with migrants."
The German lawmaker added that today Europe, and especially Germany, is not independent in its foreign policy and acts only in the interests of "external forces, which has an extremely negative effect on the state of affairs in Germany itself."
As several key European nations, including Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Austria, have already called on Russia to restore its participation in the grain initiative, the expert called on them to take responsibility on their behalf for the suspension of the agreement as Russia’s concerns have not been met.
The grain deal was brokered by the United Nations and Turkiye between Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to facilitate the export of grain and fertilizer from Black Sea ports in the midst of hostilities.
Despite agreeing to several extensions of the grain deal since then, Moscow had indicated that the deal's component on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports had not been fulfilled.
RHM/PR
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