DISINFO: Grain Deal was used to deliver weapons to Ukraine
SUMMARY
Under the guise of this agreement, the West was importing weapons into the territory of Ukraine. There were cases when tankers arriving to transport grain brought weapons to Ukraine.
RESPONSE
A pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), attempting to blame Ukraine and its Western partners for the exploitation of grain corridors for military purposes and justifying the Kremlin’s decision to suspend its participation in the BSGI. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
There is no evidence to support the allegation that the Grain Deal was used to deliver [Western] weapons to Ukraine. This allegation goes in line with a wider pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign aiming to blame Western countries for a global food crisis engineered by Russia as part of its unjustified full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In fact, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has destabilised global food markets and is driving food prices up due to increased cost of production, transport and freight insurance. Russia has also destroyed substantial Ukrainian food stocks, production, as well as processing and transport capacities in areas occupied in Ukraine. Further, Russian threats to shipping transport in the Black Sea reduced the export capacity from free Ukraine.
See our accounts of the recent Russian disinfo claims by end of July 2023 here and here as well as our debunk of Putin's article to the Russia-Africa summit.
Read a similar disinformation case alleging that Ukraine used grain corridors for drone strike on Russian ships.