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Russia cannot disregard quality of ship inspections under grain deal — MFA

Sergey Vershinin recalled that originally "the grain initiative was announced by the UN Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] in order to help countries that were experiencing food shortages"

ISTANBUL, May 11. /TASS/. Russia is extremely serious about the inspections of ships under the grain deal and it cannot disregard quality for the sake of quantity. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin told the Russian media on Thursday following talks in Istanbul on a grain deal between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations.

"Our team in the Joint Coordination Center does a very professional job. We are obliged to make sure that the incoming ships and the outgoing ones, which have been loaded, carry the cargoes that have been declared and that there are no violations in the documentation. With this in mind we carry out inspections based on an agreed set of rules and procedures that were established at the beginning. We cannot afford to disregard quality for the sake of quantity," Vershinin pointed out.

He recalled that originally "the grain initiative was announced by the UN Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] in order to help countries that were experiencing food shortages."

"Of course, we're thinking about making sure that first of all such ships go to such countries, to African states, to the poorest countries. That there should be no place for commerce in this work," Vershinin said.

On July 22, 2022, a package of documents on the supply of food and fertilizers to the international market was signed in Istanbul. The agreements were originally concluded for a period of 120 days. They were extended for the same period last November. On March 18, 2023, Russia announced the extension of the deal for 60 days. It has repeatedly stated that a further decision on the extension of the deal would depend on the fulfillment of the Russian part of the agreement. The lack of progress on this issue endangers the future of this initiative as such.

On May 10-11 representatives from Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN met in Istanbul to discuss the extension of the grain deal and the implementation of the Russian part of the agreement on the export of grain and fertilizers. The agenda also included the security of the grain corridor.

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