Now the Russian people are consolidated as never before! Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o63wkDzlWi0

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Greetings from Volgograd

by Yury Fyodorovich Starovatykh, Volgograd*

Dear friends!
  Accept the most heartfelt greetings from Volgograd, the former Stalingrad.
  First of all, there are the most respectful human regards to be paid to the organisers of this Forum – the best citizen-to-citizen Forum, as I see it. Thank you very much!
  I would also like to thank you – those who gave the Forum their physical or virtual presence – for keeping your soundness of mind during these difficult times, when the world itself has gone insane, when the most violent Russophobia has morphed into the genocide of everything Russian, and even the names of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich are being erased from poster boards.
  Believe me, my friends – as an 80-year-old man who spent 60 years serving the cause of world peace, there is a lot I have to say about this situation. And yet, today I will limit myself solely to the words of gratitude.
  Because the thing that matters most is that we are all human being (and not violent beasts), and the “Manifesto for Europe” adopted at the “Mut zur Ethik” Conference in 2015 proclaims that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”. [Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1]
  Because the German military surgeon Kurt Reuber, surrounded in Stalingrad and sitting in a frozen fox-hole at the light of a single candle, used the backside of a geographic map to draw the Madonna and Child – an image known today as “The Stalingrad Madonna” – and write the words “Licht, Leben, Liebe” (“Light, life, love”). These are the most important formulas in our life.
  There is another example. On 21 August 2022, Volgograd welcomed participants of a motor rally for “Peace and Friendship with Russia” – the rally about which our city newspapers wrote a lot. Sixteen German citizens of different ages, ways of life and worldviews, were brought together by a single purpose – calling for peace and cooperation.
  The rally’s organiser, Mr. Reinhold Groß, told our journalists that their group is the group “…of the Germans who do not support Russophobia and who understand what exactly is happening now in Germany and in Europe as a whole. Of course, it will be dangerous for us to return, because the mission that brought us here goes against the liking of the official German Government, and so we might be subject to repression. We might have our bank accounts closed; we might be fired from our jobs. But we do not let it concern us, because it is the friendship between nations that matters most, and so we will continue down our road with an open heart”.
  Another thing that Reinhold Groß was totally right about is that “We are building up people’s diplomacy – grassroots diplomacy. We are demonstrating that we have hearts and that we support peace. We have always been warmly welcomed in Russia, despite the very difficult past between Germany and Russia. To my Russian and German friends alike, I keep saying – don’t look back. We must only look ahead, towards what the future holds for us. And what happened in 1941 will and must never happen again.”
  On 21 August 2022, I, together with my colleagues, welcomed the rally participants at Volgograd Peace Foundation’s office and told them, “Our today’s meeting is a remarkable occasion. It is like a single blade of grass that has found its way through the paving asphalt, and from this sprout, reason and peace must spread back all over the planet.”
  Not so long ago, the Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen declared that “This is more than the war for territories and borders. This is a war for what we believe in. This is the war against the values on which Europe and the free world are built.”
  The problem, though, is that the things which they are talking about – the tyranny and the oppression – are nowhere to be found in Russia, and for a very long time. Same goes for what they are calling their values: both freedom and democracy are nowhere to be found in Europe. The words are still there; the values themselves are gone.
  And so, in consideration of those two facts from the life of the Russian and the Germans, I am now thinking a lot about my participation in the Nuremberg Congress of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1985. This Congress was held by the never-to-be-forgotten Willy Brandt under the motto “40 years later: East – West”. Both my participation in the Congress and my discussions with Willy Brandt and Egon Bahr were about the fact that only through reconciliation can we bring peace to Europe. So, isn’t it the time for Olaf Scholz to halt, come to his senses and start working for the benefit of the German citizens – instead of catering to Biden, against the common sense?
  But stop!
  Forgive me, my friends, for breaking my earlier promise to limit myself solely to the words of gratitude.
  Let us be reminded of the year 1950, when the International Congress of the Friends of Peace took place in Warsaw, the Congress that resolved to establish the World Peace Council. 226 delegates were elected to the first panel of the Council, with the Nobel Prize winner Frédéric Joliot-Curie as its Chair. Much has been done in 72 years, and yet, lately, this most important Council has played very little role whatsoever, – despite the nations’ will for peace being a powerful factor in the de-escalation of international tensions.
  Let us dedicate our hearts to finding the ways and means for making this organisation active again, so that the International Movement of the Friends of Peace and its battle body, the World Peace Council, would be searching again for the various modes of action and uniting those who cherish Peace. In conclusion, I would like to emphasise that everything is not as bleak as it seems, and that we will continue our fight for the right to live!
  From Volgograd with love.  

Yury Fyodorovich Starovatykh, born in Stalingrad in 1937, was the Lord Mayor of the city of Volgograd from 1986 to 1990. He was evacuated during the Battle of Stalingrad from August 1942 to February 1943. He trained as a civil engineer and worked in the construction sector for 21 years. He helped build the “Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad”; the metro and several objects of the social sphere.
  He was Vice-President of the international organisation “Mayors for Peace”, a member of the Executive Bureau of numerous international organisations such as “The International Association of Peace Messenger Cities”, the Federation of Twin Cities, etc. To this day, he is involved in twinning Volgograd cities all over the world.
  During his term as Lord Mayor of Volgograd, 40 twinning agreements were concluded with Chemnitz and Cologne, Toronto (Canada) and Cleveland (USA), among others.
  Yury Starovatykh is the chairman of the board of the Volgograd representation of the international public foundation “Russian Peace Foundation”.
  He holds numerous honorary titles, including Honorary Citizen of the City of Hiroshima and recipient of the Medal of Honour “For the Consolidation of Peace and Understanding between Peoples”.

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https://www.zeit-fragen.ch/en/archives/2022/zeit-fragen-nr-24/25-sonderbeilage-xxix-kongress-mut-zur-ethik-2022/gruesse-aus-wolgograd

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BY EKATERINA BLINOVA

Moscow suspended the year-long Black Sea Grain Deal after the West failed to implement its part of the agreement.

"Russia’s decision to end the grain deal was expected," Dr. Anuradha Chenoy, a retired professor from the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Sputnik. "The collective West and Ukraine have continuously violated their part in the Grain Agreement as signed between Russia, Turkiye and the UN."

The grain deal expired on July 17 with Russia having repeatedly warned the West it would not extend the agreement until and unless its demands concerning Russian agricultural and fertilizer exports were met.

While Russia has fully implemented its part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative signed in July 2022 by Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye, and the United Nations, the US and the EU failed to lift or ease sanctions preventing Russia's shipments of grain and fertilizers.

Russia's Rosselkhozbank has remained disconnected from SWIFT, with the EU unwilling to lift restrictions on the nation's agriculture-focused bank, despite earlier agreements. Likewise, Western shippers and insurers still refuse to transport Russian agricultural goods because of sanctions. In addition, the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline - which was used to transport Russian ammonia fertilizer to the Black Sea port of Odessa - was blasted by Ukrainian saboteurs in June.

Nonetheless, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov stressed on Monday that as soon as the West implements its part of the deal, Moscow would resume the agreement.

"We are suspending the grain deal. If [the West] fulfill[s] the promises that they gave [Russia], then we are ready to resume it. But I don't think it would be quick and easy. Until now, [Western countries] could not agree among themselves what and how to restore to keep the deal in place," Victor Nadein-Raevskiy, a senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Sputnik.

Who Benefitted the Most From Grain Deal?

As per the UN, the EU emerged as the main beneficiary of the Black Sea Grain Deal: 38% of all grain was sent to the Old Continent; another 30% went to Turkiye; and 24% to China.

"The EU benefited a lot," Nadein-Raevskiy agreed, adding that on the EU's periphery, many countries have suffered from the flood of cheap Ukrainian grain.

"Although being of low quality, Ukrainian grain is cheap, and this led to the demise of Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and so on [agricultural] producers," the expert continued. "They all began to impose sanctions against Ukrainian grain, because it led to dumping prices and, accordingly, to a drop in the profitability of agriculture, grain farming in a number of countries in this new Europe. The Poles got a very big slap in the face because of this."

In April, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria introduced a temporary ban on Ukraine's agricultural products. Previously, the countries of Central Europe repeatedly called on Brussels to move all surplus grain out of their states toward Africa and the Middle East for humanitarian purposes within the framework of the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes.

However, those who had not benefited from the deal were vulnerable developing nations. Only 2% of grain has been supplied to the Global South despite the West's earlier declarations that the whole idea behind the deal was to feed the world's poorest countries.

Russia did not benefit, either. Because of the discount in prices for Russia's grain – formed as a result the grain deal – the grain industry of the Russian Federation lost about $1 billion over the year, Arkady Zlochevsky, head of the Russian Grain Union (RGU), stated at a press conference on Monday.

West's Propaganda Part of Hybrid War Against Russia

The West has already tried to pin the blame for the suspension of the Black Sea Grain Deal on Russia. The EU condemned Moscow, with European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen claiming that Russia's decision is a "cynical move".

For his part, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – knowing that the West has not lifted a finger to implement its part of the agreement – criticized Russia in advance last week. As per Blinken, Moscow used the deal "as a weapon."

"The West will immediately put the entire blame on Russia," said Dr. Chenoy. "They will act innocent on the way that Russian ships have been blocked in Western ports, that Russian ships have been sanctioned; that insurance companies are under pressure not to insure Russian ships and the innocent on the planned attacks on Crimea that Ukraine is talking about and American national security people (Victoria Nuland) have been advertising, besides the attacks on Russian bridges. So, the Western media will step up the campaign to vilify Russia."

"Since the hundreds of sanctions placed on Russia have not worked so far, the West, however, will continue with this strategy as they believe in their own campaign," the Indian scholar continued, adding that the Western elites do not care about ordinary people in the Global South.

Through its propaganda campaign, the West is seeking to sever ties between the Global South, said the scholar, calling it a part of the overall US/NATO hybrid war against Russia.

"Information and legitimacy are a major part of the strategy of the collective West," she said. "They believe that if the countries dependent on Russian grain in the Global South are deprived of this grain, they will then turn against Russia. Given the position that the majority of countries have opposed sanctions – this de-legitimization of Russia is important for the West."

UN Admits No Vessels With Russian Fertilizers Dispatched Under Black Sea Grain Initiative

Russia Will Continue to Feed Africa and Asia

Nonetheless, Dr. Chenoy has no doubts that Russia will find a way to transport its own grain to poor developing countries.

"The last time the grain deal was ended, Russia sent many shiploads of grain to the countries of the Global South that needed them most. This was especially acknowledged by the African Union. I expect Russia will likely do the same," Chenoy said.

Despite the burden of sanctions, Russia managed to export over 15 million tons of grain, as well as a large amount of mineral fertilizers by November 2022. More than 90% of deliveries went to countries in Africa and Southeast Asia, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov told journalists at the time.

This spring, the Russian Federation supplied 4.9 million tons of wheat to foreign markets in May; five million tons in April; and 5.2 million tons in March. Among buyers of Russian grain are Egypt, Yemen, Brazil, Bangladesh, Oman, Mexico, Mozambique, Tunisia, Senegal, Tanzania and Rwanda, to name but a few.

In 2022, Russia updated the record for gross grain harvest: a total of 157.676 million tons was harvested, 29.9% more than in 2021. In 2023, the grain harvest in the Russian Federation is expected to be 123 million tons, including 78 million tons of wheat.

"As the [grain] deal was not implemented in its entirety, we redirected Russian exports through other channels, through other traffic flows," Nadein-Raevskiy said. "We increased [the supplies] for Asian countries. China is also our major customer. So, in principle, we have solved this problem. Well, besides, we reduced prices in order to stimulate the buyer. Now this issue is being addressed differently. The discounts that we provided to customers have seriously decreased. That is, we figured it out, we managed to cope with it."

The suspension of the Black Sea Grain Deal wouldn't mean the halt of food supplies to the Global South, the Russian expert emphasized. Russia will also continue free deliveries to the poorest countries of Africa and Asia, he said.

"On the one hand, it would seem to be completely unprofitable, but unprofitable from a financial point of view. The political aspect probably prevails in this case, and we are seriously strengthening our positions in those areas [in the Global South]," Nadein-Raevskiy concluded.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230717/russia-to-continue-food-supplies-to-global-south-despite-black-sea-grain-deal-suspension-1111949743.html

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