WASHINGTON, May 12. /TASS/. Sanctions from the United States and other Western countries are hampering the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative, Minister-Counselor of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the U.S. Andrey Ledenev said on Thursday.
"Against the backdrop of de-facto non-functioning of the Russia-UN Memorandum on promoting Russian food products and fertilizers to the world markets, which is directly linked to the "Black Sea Initiative", US authorities are going out of their way to avoid responsibility for the current situation. It is the sanctions of the U.S. and other western countries that impede the implementation of the package of agreements. They are also detrimental to the interests of the most vulnerable states in the agrosector," the diplomat said as quoted by the embassy.
"With unsuccessful attempts to "denigrate" the Russian Federation the State Department does not shy away from the blatant manipulation of facts and disinformation. It claims that buyers of grain and fertilizers from Russia do not have any problems when purchasing agricultural products from our country," he added.
According to him, the Russian side "clearly indicated which particular points of the Russian-UN document are not being followed through."
"We are carefully taking note of everything that is being done to correct the imbalances in the implementation of the Istanbul agreements. Our decision to extend the "Black Sea Initiative" will depend on exactly," Ledenev concluded.
Agreements to export food from Ukraine were signed on July 22, 2022 in Istanbul to last 120 days and were extended for another 120 days in November. Russia and the UN also concluded a memorandum for the UN to work toward lifting the restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets. Moscow has said the memorandum hasn’t been fulfilled. Russia announced on March 18 that the deal was extended for another 60 days, warning that this would be ample time to evaluate the execution of the memorandum that had been signed with the UN. The Russian Foreign Ministry also said the deal’s further extension will hinge on reconnecting the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT, resumption of supplies of farm equipment and parts, removal of restrictions of insurance, reinsurance and port calls, resumption of operation of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, unblocking foreign assets and accounts of the Russian companies that deal with shipping food and fertilizers. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said on Saturday that Moscow is still dissatisfied with the progress on the export of Russian agricultural products.