ST. PETERSBURG, July 27. /TASS/. More than 70% of cargoes shipped from Ukraine under the grain deal arrived in rich countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a plenary meeting of the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum.

"Over the course of almost a year under this so-called grain deal, a total of 32.8 million tons of cargoes were exported from Ukraine, of which more than 70% went to countries with high and above-average income levels, including, and I mean in the first place, the European Union," the president said.

Meanwhile, the poorest countries in Africa received less than 1 million tons of cargo. "Such countries as Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and a number of others, your attention please, accounted for less than 3% of the total amount - less than 1 million tons," the Russian president said.

He noted that Russia also agreed to participate in the grain deal with the expectation that the commitments it contained to remove illegitimate obstacles to the supply of grain and fertilizers from Russia to the world markets would be fulfilled. "And I want to tell you that in this, above all, lies help for the poorest countries," Putin added.