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Military operation in Ukraine

Russian army draws down from Snake Island in goodwill grain gesture

On June 30, in a goodwill move Russia’s Armed Forces completed their tasks on Snake Island, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov informed

Snake Island Mykola Rozhenko/CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikipedia Commons

Snake Island

© Mykola Rozhenko/CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikipedia Commons

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. The Russian army has removed its garrison from Snake Island, thus showing the world community that Russia does not impede UN efforts to create a humanitarian corridor for the export of farm produce from Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday.

"On June 30, in a goodwill move Russia’s Armed Forces completed their tasks on Snake Island and withdrew the garrison stationed there, thus demonstrating to the world community that Russia does not interfere with the UN efforts to create a humanitarian corridor for the export of farm produce from Ukraine," Konashenkov said.

"This decision will not let Kiev indulge in insinuations over an impending food crisis or argue it is impossible to export grain due to Russia's total control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea," he added.

"The ball is now in Kiev’s court. To this day Ukraine has done nothing to clear the Black Sea near its shores, including seaports’ areas, of naval mines," Konashenkov said.

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