Miller Magazine Issue: 153 September 2022

84 ARTICLE MILLER / SEPTEMBER 2022 Iryna Moroz Partner at AGA Partners Pavlo Lebediev Associate at AGA Partners It goes without saying that the deliveries under the Grain Export Deal involve additional risks connected with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Nonetheless, the proper analysis of your template contract and its upgrade with the clauses addressing the challenges indicated above might minimize the risks your company will bear in such a transaction. It is therefore crucial for all the importers of Ukrainian grain to adapt their contracts to the peculiarities of the Grain Export Deal. Ukraine grain export deal: How can risks be minimized? BEACON OF HOPE: TRADE AMIDST THE WAR Once the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on 24 Feb- ruary 2022, all the seaports were blocked by the Russian navy. This blockade was a severe blow to the Ukrainian ex- port as approximately 96% of the goods were transported by sea from Ukraine. While the market players attempted to develop alternative routes for the commodities trade (through the river ports on the Danube and Romanian/ Bulgarian seaports), these steps allowed the traders to re- launch only the export of a minor part of the Ukrainian crop. The blockade thus caused a deficit of grain on the global market and led to an inconceivable spike in the commod- ities prices. It was even reported that people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen and Sri Lanka were on the brink of famine since the supplies from Ukraine had been interrupted by the Russian invasion. As a result, the world has witnessed the global food crisis raging on an unprecedented scale. Given the severe consequences of the blockade of the Ukrainian seaports, in April 2022 the United Nations called the leaders of Ukraine and Russia to arrange the resump- tion of Ukrainian export. After several rounds of tense ne- gotiations, the Secretary-General of the United Nations announced the breakthrough between the parties – they finally agreed to restore the export of Ukrainian grain from three deep-water seaports – Odesa, Chornomorsk and Piv- dennyi (together - “Ukrainian ports”). To this end, the document entitled the ‘Initiative for the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports’ (“Grain Export Deal”) was signed by Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye and the United Nations on 22 July 2022. It is pe- culiar that technically there were two separate agreements signed – one with Ukraine and another one with Russia – as Ukraine refused to sign any agreement directly with the state committing war crimes on its territory. Although Russia launched missiles at the port of Odesa almost immediately after signing the agreement, Ukraine