The Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Gerapetritis, proposed an “alternative route” for the export of grain from Ukraine: the goods could be transported by rail from Romania and Bulgaria to the ports of Alexandroupolis and Thessaloniki, reports Le Monde, according to News.ro.
Ukrainian cerealsPhoto: Adam Radosavljevic / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia
Gerapetritis would have made this proposal during the informal meeting of the Council for Foreign Affairs of the EU, held symbolically on Monday, in Kyiv.
However, it is not the only proposal for alternative corridors that would allow Ukrainian exports of food products, given that the traditional transport routes on the Black Sea no longer work due to the Russian threat. Thus, the Lithuanian foreign minister announced on Tuesday X that his country’s ports will be open for Ukrainian grain. In September, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic also offered the possibility of his country serving as a transit zone for Ukrainian goods.
Following a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin said on September 4 that he would not return to the UN-backed agreement that had worked for a year on the Black Sea, allowing safe shipments of Ukrainian grain, crucial for world food security.
Negotiated in the summer of 2022 under the auspices of Turkey, this agreement allowed Ukraine to export grain (about 33 million tons) through secured corridors in the Black Sea. Moscow withdrew from the agreement on July 17 and does not intend to return to it, at least not until its demands are met, particularly to be reconnected to the Swift international payments system.
Determined to export its grain without Moscow’s approval, Ukraine managed, at the end of the summer, to pass several ships through a new maritime corridor, established as close as possible to the coasts of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, without any reaction from the Russian military , who had promised to target any merchant ship that would travel to the Black Sea without his authorization.
