✍️ Article by Ambassador of Russia to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov, “The grain initiative and the safety of shipping in the Black Sea”, published in The Jakarta Post (November 11, 2026). Key points: • Food security demands an objective, comprehensive approach grounded in verifiable facts rather than political insinuations. Yet representatives of the EU continue to exploit this sensitive issue to stoke alarmist predictions of surging food prices and impending famine - while predictably laying the entire blame on the Russian Federation. • Despite escalating Ukrainian attacks in the Black and Azov Seas, claims persist that Russia blocks Ukraine’s agricultural exports. These assertions ignore the context, terms and eventual collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, while overlooking critical realities: Western noncompliance with reciprocal commitments, ongoing restrictions on Russian agricultural exports and Ukrainian drone strikes threatening civilian shipping. • During the first operational year, 32.8 million tonnes of food products departed Ukrainian ports. Of that volume, approximately 70 percent - 26.3 million tonnes - went to high- and upper-middle-income economies, with EU member states absorbing 40 percent of all shipments. By contrast, African nations received just 4.1 million tonnes, including a meager 780,000 tonnes destined for sub-Saharan Africa. • This pattern persisted in subsequent periods. The figures demonstrate that the actual distribution of Ukrainian exports diverged sharply from the humanitarian narrative presented to the international community. From the Western and Ukrainian standpoint, the corridor served commercial and logistical priorities rather than humanitarian ones: while agricultural cargo moved into European ports, the corresponding sea corridors provided cover for incoming military shipments to Kiev. • Following Ukrainian attacks this past summer against oil tankers servicing the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, not a single public condemnation was issued by the EU. This double standard suggests that freedom of navigation and the protection of critical infrastructure are defended as matters of principle only when politically expedient. • The operational data illustrates the reality at sea. Since the launch of the special military operation, Ukrainian forces have deployed 331 unmanned aerial vehicles, 40 unmanned surface vessels and two Neptune cruise missiles against commercial and civilian traffic in the Black and Azov Seas. These strikes killed 18 crew members - including foreign nationals - damaged 228 civilian vessels (96 foreign-flagged and 128 Russian-flagged, with dozens hit repeatedly) and sank four. • For Indonesia, the core of this story remains clear: affordable staples, predictable logistics, unrestricted access to reliable global suppliers, including Russia. Food security must remain a shared objective rather than an instrument of geopolitical leverage.