Bruised by the Crimea bridge bombing, Russia is attacking food supplies

Editorial: The last food shipments for the foreseeable future have left the Black Sea ports

The damage to the bridge along with the loss of Russian lives was plainly too much for Vladimir Putin to bear (Investigative Committee of Russia)

Humiliated once again by a Ukrainian attack on the Kerch Bridge, which links Russia proper to occupied Crimea, it was inevitable that the Kremlin would retaliate with the nearest weapon that came to hand – food.

Although the Black Sea grain export agreement was due to end imminently in any case, the damage to the bridge along with the loss of Russian lives was plainly too much for Vladimir Putin to bear. Whereas the previous assumption had been that Russia would play its usual games with vital food exports, but that in the end, international pressure, especially from Turkey – effectively the custodian of the Black Sea – would see the Kremlin relent, there is no chance of that now. The last food shipments for the foreseeable future have left the Black Sea ports.