President Vladimir Putin announced on May 30th that he would be prepared to allow shipment of Ukrainian commodities including wheat and sunflower oil from Black Sea ports.  This would require lifting the current blockade and concurrently remove mines seeded by the Russian Federation in shipping lanes.

There is nothing altruistic about Putin.  In return, he is demanding the lifting of sanctions that are beginning to impact the Russian economy.  Basically, Russia is holding the poor nations of Africa and consumers in the Middle East to ransom.  The Putin initiative is presently facilitated by Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan, displaying his proclivity as an opportunist rather than as a peacemaker.  In pursuing this role, Erdogan offered to serve as a disinterested observer with Istanbul, the headquarters of an agency to supervise any agreement between Western nations and the Russian Federation.

Ukraine normally exports six million tons of wheat, corn and other grains each month but since the invasion by the Russian Federation, export terminals and ports including Chornonorsk, Odessa, Kherson and Mykolaiv are non-functional. Ukraine has relied on rail and road to ship product from the 2021 harvest westward.  It is a matter of record that Russia has stolen over 400,000 metric tons of grain in elevators and has deliberately destroyed agricultural infrastructure, including silos, warehouses and oilseed crushing plants.  The current escalation in the price of wheat will obviously benefit Russia with a potential record crop approaching 88 million metric tons.

The readiness of Russia to hold the world to ransom is characteristic of a tyrant and manipulator.  Using wheat as a weapon is as offensive as detaining U.S. citizens on trumped up charges to be exchanged for spies.  The threatened oil embargo has the potential to bite deeply into the economy of Russia. Standing firm 100 days into the invasion, maintaining international sanctions and military support of Ukraine in their attempts to repel their invader will do more to achieve resolution than negotiations and concessions.