MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. Moscow expects Western countries to create conditions for the implementation of all provisions of the food agreements signed in Istanbul, Russian Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Ivan Nechayev said at a briefing on Thursday.
"Let’s recall that the package of documents signed in Istanbul included agreements not only on the grain export from three Ukrainian ports, which began a week and a half ago, but also on the promotion of Russian food products and fertilizers on global markets, which at the moment is not implemented," he said.
"We expect that all provisions of the food agreements will be implemented in full and Western countries will create the necessary conditions for access of Russian fertilizers and food to global markets," Nechaev added.
The diplomat drew attention to the publication of the Australian National Review, according to which 17 out of 64 million hectares of Ukrainian farmland had been purchased by three major US transnational companies. "These companies grow grain in Ukraine, and they also sell it," Nechayev pointed out.
The diplomat also noted that ships carrying Ukrainian grain do not go to needy countries in Africa and South Asia, but to Western ports, which calls into question the sincerity of the Western theses about food security. "Unfortunately, not a single vessel with grain has yet reached the shores of starving countries in Africa or South Asia, they go mainly to Western ports. And the range of exported cargoes consists mainly of corn grain and sunflower oil, rather than wheat, which casts doubt on the sincerity of statements voiced in the West that the global food security depends on the grain deal," he added.
"We have taken note of the situation around the grain cargo for Lebanon's Tripoli that left an Odessa port on August 1. As it turned out, there was no wheat, necessary for the Lebanese, on the board of the vessel. [Instead], there was corn, in particular, corn fodder. Tripoli has reportedly given up on the corn and is waiting for new buyers," Nechaev said.
Istanbul agreements
A package of documents geared towards resolving the issue of food and fertilizer supplies on global markets was signed on July 22 in Istanbul. Under the Russia-UN memorandum, the United Nations undertakes to work toward lifting anti-Russian restrictions hampering the exports of agricultural products and fertilizers. Another document envisages a mechanism of exporting grain from Ukraine-controlled Black Sea ports. An agreement between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations provides for the establishment of a four-party coordination center to search ships carrying grain in order to prevent weapons smuggling and avoid any false flag.