Although the grain deal played a positive role at a certain stage, it effectively allowed the Russian naval embargo on Ukraine under the auspices of the United Nations, which allowed Russia to block the international sea route unilaterally. Therefore, what is needed is not a return to the grain deal format, but a complete unblocking of the sea trade routes in the region.
Experts at the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) Daniel Szeligowski and Marcin Piotrowski expressed this belief in an article, the CFTS portal reports.
Achieving this goal requires several measures to strengthen Ukraine's defense capabilities to protect shipping lanes and seaports, as well as joint actions of an international coalition to neutralize Russia's aggressive actions at sea, according to the Polish experts.
In particular, according to them, it is worth considering and initiating a discussion among interested countries and Ukraine's partners on an international "coalition of the willing" for protecting merchant ships sailing to or from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
In addition, in the event of Russian attacks on merchant ships sailing to or from Ukrainian ports, or continued missile attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure, the European Union and the United States should consider extending the ban on the use of European ports to all ships sailing to or from Russia, regardless of their flag, the experts said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on August 13 that it had stopped the Turkish ship Sukru Okan, which was sailing to the port of Izmail, by allegedly firing warning shots.
In response, the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry called on the international community to take decisive measures to prevent Russian actions from impeding the peaceful passage of ships in the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry stressed that Russia should be deprived of the ability to block international routes in the Black Sea, especially routes to Ukrainian seaports.
