LUXEMBOURG, June 20. /TASS/. Some Western banks are going too far in terms of European Union sanctions against Russia. Brussels will send letters to them to clarify that they can service deals in Russian grain, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell told a press conference following the EU Council meeting in Luxembourg.
"We are going to send letters to the banks explaining them that they can do it. But certainly we cannot avoid [the situation] when some financial institutions - like it happened with Iranian sanctions - decide not to participate in the trade. This is what is called overreaction or overcompliance [with the EU sanctions]. This has to be faced by providing information to the banks, to insurance companies," he said noting that such situation may occur in particular with operations with Russian grain.
The head of EU diplomacy noted that the issue of grain remains one of the most important. According to him, more than 20 million tonnes of grain are blocked in the ports of Ukraine.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow guaranteed the unobstructed passage of vessels containing Ukrainian grain if Kiev clears mines from its ports and can guarantee the exports through the ports controlled by Russia, such as Berdyansk and Mariupol.
According to the Russian leader, Ukraine may also export grain by land with Belarus being the most logical route yet in order to do so, Western sanctions imposed on that East European country must be lifted. The Russian president also reiterated that problems on the global food market started as early as February 2020. He dismissed statements that Russia was allegedly blocking grain in Ukrainian ports as mere bluffing.