MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. Western countries should remove obstacles for access of Russian agriculture products to global markets as political statements being made by the United Nations (UN) is not enough, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told TASS on Monday.
"Turkey has played its positive role in the grain deal," and now "the ball is on the side of those countries that imposed illegal sanctions against Russia," he said following the presidential election in Turkey.
"If they are interested in the existence of any mechanisms for grain supply, they should fulfill their obligations and remove all obstacles for supply of Russian food to global food markets, mainly grain," the diplomat said. "We expect particular actions in this direction. Political statements made by the UN that the global organization is addressing it are already not enough in the present environment, of course," he noted.
Grushko also stressed that they should ensure respective conditions for payment of contracts on ship entry, remove restrictions on supply of agriculture equipment to Russia and more.
Agreements on export of food and fertilizers from Ukraine to the international market were concluded on July 22, 2022, for 120 days and extended in November for the same period. One of the agreements regulates the order of grain supplies from the Kiev-controlled ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. Moreover, a memorandum was inked by Russia and the UN on lifting export restrictions for Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to global markets. The second part stipulates unfreezing of Russian export of food and fertilizers, connection of Rosselkhozbank back to SWIFT, resumption of supplies of agriculture equipment, components and service maintenance, resumption of the work of Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and a number of other steps. This part of the package agreement has not yet been implemented as stated by Moscow.
On March 18, 2023, Russia announced that the deal was extended for 60 days, warning that this would be enough time to assess the efficacy of the memorandum signed with the UN. The Russian side has repeatedly stressed that the future decision on extension of the deal depends on implementation of the Russian part of the agreement, adding that the lack of progress on that issue threatens the future of the initiative.
Representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN discussed the issues of extension of the grain deal and the implementation of the Russian part of the agreement on supplies of grain and fertilizers on May 10-11 in Istanbul. The agenda also contained the issues of secure functioning of the grain corridor. Russia was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin. No particular decisions on extension of the deal or consideration of Moscow’s requirements were announced following the negotiations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that the grain agreement was extended through July 17 without any changes, adding that it would be terminated after July 17 unless all issues on the deal were fully solved.