President of South Africa calls on Putin to restore grain agreement

At the meeting of African leaders with Vladimir Putin, dedicated to the war in Ukraine, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called on the Russian dictator to restore the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The corresponding statement of the President of South Africa was published on the website of the Kremlin.

"At the moment when we listened to your (Putin - ed.) speech today, when you responded to some elements of our proposals, we noted the following. In particular, you talked about grain. We proposed to implement the Black Sea Grain Initiative, we talked about the need to open of the Black Sea, we said that we would like the Black Sea to be open to world markets."

The President of South Africa also stated that the leaders of African countries "did not come here to ask for any "gifts" for the African continent."

"We understand, of course, that you have decided out of generosity to provide grain for free to some African countries that are facing certain difficulties. We have great respect for that, we note it. However, this is not our main goal here, this is not our main task - to achieve any deliveries of this nature," Ramaphosa said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the military intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain noted that the disruption of the "grain agreement" by the terrorist country of Russia and the blockade of the Black Sea will worsen the food situation in Africa for at least two years.