UNITED NATIONS, July 21. /TASS/. Russia is ready to return to the grain deal but all the earlier agreed principles of its participation there should be met, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Permanent Mission to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said on Friday at the UN Security Council’s meeting.
"We are not against the grain deal as such, especially considering its importance for the global food market, for many countries of the world, and are ready to consider an opportunity of returning to it but only under one condition - if all the earlier agreed principles of Russia’s participation in the deal without exception are addressed in full scope, and most importantly, implemented," the diplomat said.
Western corporations, with DuPont and Monsanto among them, became main beneficiaries within the grain deal framework, Polyansky noted.
"Commercialization of initially humanitarian initiative becomes clear if it is taken into account that Western corporations DuPont and Monsanto are owners of a significant portion of Ukrainian arable lands-over 17 mln hectares. They exactly bought up Ukrainian lands after Kiev had lifted the 20-year moratorium on their sale upon the IMF demand and became main beneficiaries of Ukrainian grain export," the diplomat said.
Russian agricultural producers lost $1.2 bln last year and losses of fertilizer producers stood at $1.6 bln, Polyansky stressed.
"That year became overly loss-making for our producers and exporters. Losses of Russian agricultural producers amounted to $1.2 bln due to the drop of our grain price on global markets by 30-40%. Profitability of supplies fell twofold due to the situation with sea freight and the cost of international payments, while prices of imported equipment and spare parts for our agricultural producers surged by 40% and expenses for financial transactions [increased] by 10%. Problems of our fertilizer producers, whose losses stand at about $1.6 bln, are no less smaller," he noted.