Moscow (EFE).- Russia responded today to the UN that at this time it is “impossible” to resume the grain agreement, which allowed the export of Ukrainian cereals through the Black Sea, because the commitments with the Russian part are not fulfilled.
“Unfortunately, at this time it is impossible to resume that agreement, because it is not fulfilled,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said in his daily telephone press conference.
He added that, indeed, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, once again presented Russian President Vladimir Putin with “a kind of action plan and the promise that the Russian part will ever be fulfilled” of the agreement.
“President Putin has clearly said that Russia is ready to immediately resume the agreement as soon as (the Russian side) is fulfilled,” Peskov stressed.
Moscow calls for the reconnection of the Russian agricultural bank, Rosseljozbank, to SWIFT, the lifting of sanctions on spare parts for agricultural machinery, the unblocking of logistics and transport insurance, the unfreezing of assets and the resumption of operation of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, which exploded on June 5.
The UN Secretary General urged Russia on Monday to resume the Black Sea Initiative, “essential to guarantee stability in supply and prices.”
“I call on the Russian Federation to resume the implementation of the Black Sea agreements and urged the world community to remain united in this effort to find effective solutions,” Guterres said during the opening of the United Nations Summit on Food Systems +2 in Rome.
On July 17, Moscow suspended the agreement to export grain through the Black Sea from Ukrainian ports, initially signed in July 2022 with the mediation of Turkey and the UN.
The UN affirms that its efforts to return Russia to the grain agreement will continue
The UN’s efforts to get Russia to return to the Black Sea Initiative, the agreement to facilitate the export of Ukrainian and Russian cereals, will continue, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the main mediator in the negotiations, said today.
“Every effort will continue to be made to get Russia back into the initiative,” spokeswoman Catherine Huissoud said at a press conference.
Rolando Gómez, spokesman for the United Nations Office at Geneva, added at the same conference that contacts at different levels with Russia are being maintained in order to “continue unhindered access to the market for Russian and Ukrainian food and fertilizers.”
In one year, this agreement allowed the export of 32.8 million tons of cereals, mainly wheat and corn, and other food in more than a thousand journeys, something that especially benefited the humanitarian work of the UN World Food Program (WFP).
Sources close to the Ukrainian embassy in Geneva assured that Russia’s refusal to continue the agreement puts millions of people in the world at risk of famine, after some 400 million benefited from the implementation of the initiative.
These sources assure that everything responds to a deliberate initiative by Russia to destabilize countries in Asia and Africa by increasing the global food crisis so that it leads to protests, migration and political conflicts.