Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized to reporters Monday night that Moscow was “not saying that we are ending our participation” in the grain deal but “we are talking about the fact that we are suspending” it.Now, the U.N. operation is moving to prioritize a large backlog of ships waiting for inspections off Istanbul, he said.Plus, in terms of insuring cargo ships picking up Ukrainian grain, “rates are going to go up and likely be prohibitive,” said Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.“We know that Russia has been looking to export fertilizer products and to seek a sanctions reprieve on those so it can do so effectively.”While Western sanctions on Russia don’t affect its grain exports and a parallel wartime deal was meant to clear the way for Moscow’s food and fertilizer shipments, some businesses have been wary of running afoul of sanctions.Russia’s primary concern is likely that vessels would go unchecked and could be used to bring in weapons, which is why a Joint Coordination Center was established in Istanbul to coordinate checks between the warring nations, Turkey and the U.N.Russia has announced plans to conduct its own inspections of ships that have already cleared the joint checks in Istanbul, but further details were not known."