UNITED NATIONS, June 6. /TASS/. The memorandum of understanding between Russia and the UN within the framework of the grain deal is not being implemented and Moscow sees no prospects for extending the Black Sea initiative, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Monday.
"We stated that the fulfilment of those five conditions is a requirement for future extension, without which the functioning of the memorandum of understanding between Russia and the UN is impossible. We see no possibilities for an extension because these points are not being executed, despite the efforts of the UN Secretariat and the Secretary General directly," Nebenzya said.
"The problems stem from the unilateral restrictive measures, or sanctions, imposed on us by Western countries. They [the US and the EU] claim that food and fertilizers are not sanctioned, but this is a deceptive position, because food and fertilizers are not sanctioned in and of themselves, but everything related with fertilizer exportation is. This includes freight, insurance, and bank transactions, as well as farm machinery upkeep. They are attempting to reassure us that these concerns have allegedly been fixed, while in fact they have not," the diplomat added. According to him, one-time deals do not fox the problem in a systematic manner.
"Let’s see, there's still time," he added, responding to a question concerning the initiative’s fate after July 17.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said earlier that there have been no changes within the framework of the Black Sea initiative.
On July 22, 2022, a package of documents on the supply of food and fertilizers to the international market was signed in Istanbul. Initially, the agreements were concluded for 120 days, in November of last year they were extended for the same period. On March 18, 2023, Russia announced a 60-day extension of the deal, warning that this would be enough time to evaluate the implementation of the memorandum signed with the UN.
Following the results of the talks between the delegations of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN held in Istanbul on May 10-11, Vershinin reported that the grain deal would be terminated if Moscow did not receive guarantees by May 18 that its requirements regarding the export of agricultural products and fertilizers would be met.
On May 17, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the grain deal had been extended for two months starting May 18.
The Russian Foreign Ministry previously emphasized that the part of the agreement that concerns obligations to Moscow is not being fulfilled. Russia, in particular, insisted its ships be given renewed access to foreign ports, normalizing the situation with dry cargo insurance, reconnecting the Russian Agricultural Bank the SWIFT interbank payment system and launching the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline.