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No plans to connect Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT to resume grain deal — sources

Earlier they already proposed to carry out settlements through the SWIFT system with a subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank, but not with the bank itself, one of the sources said

MOSCOW, September 3. /TASS/. Connection of the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT settlement system to resume the grain deal is not planned, other mechanisms are being discussed with the bank, diplomatic sources in the UN told TASS.

Earlier, the Turkish Anadolu agency reported that the new UN proposals on the resumption of the grain deal contained options for lifting some restrictions imposed on Russia. According to the agency, one can talk about "connecting the European subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT system, unblocking of assets of Russian fertilizer companies frozen in Europe."

"Earlier they already proposed to carry out settlements through the SWIFT system with a subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank, but not with the bank itself. We are talking about the development of these ideas," one of the sources told TASS.

However, the source explained, the UN and Turkey cannot independently connect the subsidiary the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT, this will require the consent of the European Union and the United States. In addition, the technical implementation of this idea may take several months.

Earlier, the office of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reported that he had sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with proposals to restore the grain deal.

It is expected that Russian and Turkish Presidents Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan will discuss the situation around the grain deal during their meeting in Sochi on September 4.