MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Russia will be able to help countries in need of agricultural products, the West will not be able to prevent it, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters.
"We will help those in need, we will find a way to do it, both with grain and fertilizers. And we will not be hindered by the intrigues of our opponents," he said.
The diplomat pointed out that the Russian Foreign Ministry in its official statement detailed the reasons for the collapse of the grain deal. "There is nothing here that we have not warned both the UN, its leadership and our foreign partners about for many months. They have come to this, demonstrating their inability to fulfill their part of the agreements," Ryabkov noted.
According to the diplomat, Russia still faces obstacles in free deliveries of agricultural products to needy countries. Ryabkov pointed to problems with logistics, ship insurance and payment. "We will look for alternative ways. I assure you that our position in terms of helping the needy is fundamentally different from the selfish and contemptuously arrogant position of the very same EU," the senior diplomat summed up.
On grain deal
The grain deal expired on July 17. Russia, which extended the July 2022 agreement on the Black Sea corridor for ships carrying Ukrainian grain several times, recalled that the part of the deal that concerned it - the removal of obstacles to agricultural exports - was never fulfilled. Moscow also noted that although the agreements were intended to send food to the poorest countries, the bulk of Ukraine's grain went to developed Western countries. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was ready to return to the agreement, but only if the part concerning Moscow was fulfilled.