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UN chief examines all ways of agricultural exports from Russia, Ukraine — office

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that he sent letters to António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a proposal to continue the grain deal without Russia's participation or to conclude a similar agreement in a trilateral format

UNITED NATIONS, July 19. /TASS/. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will examine all possible solutions, enabling to ensure agricultural exports from Russia and Ukraine, his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday, commenting on Kiev’s proposal to implement the grain deal without Russia.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said earlier in the day that he had sent official letters to Guterres and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, suggesting to continue the grain deal without Russia’s participation or conclude a similar agreement in a three-party format.

"The Secretary-General will continue to explore all possible avenues to ensure that Ukrainian grain, Russian grain and Russian fertilizer are out in the global market," Dujarric said, commenting on the information.

He added that "a number of ideas [were] being floated."

A package of documents geared to resolve the problem of food and fertilizer supplies on global markets was signed on July 22, 2022 in Istanbul and extended several times since then before ultimately expiring on July 17. Russia refused to extend it again because the part of the deal envisaging the removal of obstacles for Russian agricultural exports has never been implemented. Apart from that, Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the bulk of grain that was meant to be supplied to the poorest counties was shipped to Western countries. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is ready to resurrect the deal but only after its part related to obligations to Moscow is fulfilled.