MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. UN representatives admitted during consultations on the grain deal that nothing can be done to meet Russia's three demands, namely the resumption of the operation of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, supplies of agricultural machinery and spare parts, and re-connecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said on Tuesday.
"The three issues that have been mentioned are very important. They are ammonia, spare parts, and SWIFT. As a matter of fact, UN representatives admitted during the latest consultations that they cannot do anything. They even said that there are no prospects as such. Naturally, this is very sad," he noted.
According to the Russian diplomat, such solutions as one-time transactions instead of the re-connection to SWIFT are rather palliative measures. "Of course, we are grateful for our partners’ efforts, but, naturally, they don’t resolve the problem because the needed flow of financial transactions is hundreds of times as strong as when this job is done manually," he explained.
The grain deal was extended for two months on May 18. The Russian foreign ministry said earlier that the part of the deal concerning obligations to Moscow is not being implemented. Moscow insists on granting Russian ships access to foreign ports, settling the situation around cargo insurance, connecting Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT system, and commissioning the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline. After the deal was prolonged, Moscow expressed the hope that its demands would be met and warned that if they weren't, the deal might not be extended again.