MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke about his new proposals for a grain deal at a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa, but his message contained no guarantees, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
"I communicated with him (Guterres - TASS) a few days ago on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg. He briefed me on his new initiatives and sent me a corresponding message. We explained honestly to both the UN Secretary-General and our Turkish friends that there is still not a single guarantee in this message. There are only promises to try faster, to try more actively," he said.
Lavrov noted that Russia appreciated the UN Secretary-General’s efforts on this track. He emphasized that the Western countries showed no constructive approach to Russian conditions, with only promises being made.
"Everything boils down to the fact that the West impedes the solution of the problems that prevent a more active export of Russian grain and Russian fertilizers. The United Nations can't do anything about this. It can merely ask the West to show prudence, to show a constructive approach, but the West doesn't want to do that. So far everything is confined to promises," Lavrov stressed.
"I can only confirm that as soon as there are not only promises, but guarantees with concrete results, which can be put into practice literally tomorrow, the implementation of this package will resume in full right away, literally the next day," Lavrov concluded.
The implementation of the grain deal - the July 2022 agreement on a corridor for ships carrying Ukrainian grain - was terminated on July 17. Russia notified Turkey, Ukraine and the UN of its objection to the deal’s prolongation as of July 18. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS in an interview that Russia's conditions remained the same: reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, resumption of spare parts deliveries, resumption of transportation logistics and insurance and restoration of Russian companies' access to their foreign assets, after which it would be possible to consider restoration of the Black Sea Initiative in line with the proclaimed humanitarian goals.