Russia’s foreign minister offers reassurance over Russian grain supplies

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov offered reassurances over Russian grain supplies to Egypt during a visit to Cairo on Sunday, amid uncertainty over a deal to resume Ukrainian exports from the Black Sea.

Egypt is one of the world's top wheat importers and last year bought about 80 per cent of those imports from Russia and Ukraine. Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine disrupted shipments and sped up a rise in global commodity prices, delivering a financial shock to Egypt.

In its response to the war, Egypt has been torn between long-standing ties to Russia and its close relationship to Western powers that have sanctioned and sought to isolate Moscow.

Since the start of the war, a blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russia's Black Sea fleet has trapped tens of millions of tonnes of grain, worsening global supply chain bottlenecks.

Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations signed a deal on Friday to restart Ukrainian wheat exports by sea, but a Russian strike on Odessa on Saturday put implementation of the agreement in doubt.

Russia has blamed the blockade on Ukrainian mines, though under Friday's deal pilots would guide ships along safe channels. Lavrov said he hoped the United Nations would succeed in removing "illegitimate restrictions" on shipping.

Russia has continued to supply Egypt with wheat since the war's outbreak, selling to both the government and the private sector.