Russia buys grain from controlled regions in Ukraine

News agency TASS Citing a local official, many farmers in the Kherson region are exporting part of their grain harvested last year to Russia.

“People are currently selling a portion of their grain under an agreement with buyers from the Russian side“, TASS quoted Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the civil-military administration of Kherson province.

Stremousov added that the Kherson government is working to supply sunflower seeds to local and Russian processing plants.

Earlier, Ukraine accused Russia of “stealing” grain from territories controlled by Moscow.

On May 24, an agency of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine announced: “Satellite images posted by Maxar Technologies show grain stolen from Ukraine being loaded onto Russian cargo ships in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.”

The accusation was made by Ukraine in the context of the United Nations concerned that the crisis in this country could threaten the world food supply.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has also halted operations at Ukrainian ports, which used to export large quantities of cooking oil and grains such as corn and wheat.

Responding to the allegation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the allegation was fake news.

On May 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country was ready to facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain from ports in the Black Sea.

According to the Kremlin statement: “Russia is ready to assist in finding ways to unimpeded grain exports, including the export of Ukrainian grain from ports in the Black Sea.“.

Since Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine, Ukraine’s ports on the Black Sea have been almost blocked and inoperable, which has caused more than 20 million tons of grain to be stagnant. Currently, Russia is calling on the West to lift sanctions against Moscow – Russia believes that it is the sanctions that have prevented grain exports from Ukraine.