ST. PETERSBURG, April 24. /TASS/. Russia is seeking to remove all barriers to get its food and agricultural products to the world market, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin told TASS.

"The memorandum between Russia and the UN is still in effect. We continue to strive that unhindered access of Russian food and agricultural goods to the world market is implemented and ensured," the deputy minister said.

Vershinin recalled that Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea initiative for the export of grain and food due to the fact that it could not be implemented in the original volume, primarily regarding the consideration of the interests of the Russian Federation.

When asked about the possibility of Russia, Qatar and Turkey supplying 1 million tons of grain to countries in need, the Deputy Foreign Minister replied that the issue is still being worked out.

"This is a general issue as part of the efforts that Russia is making to ensure food security in the world," he said.

The memorandum between Russia and the UN implied that the UN is joining in on the initiative to remove anti-Russian restrictions that impede the export of agricultural products and fertilizers. The agreement between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN implied the creation of a quadripartite coordination center, whose representatives would inspect grain ships to prevent weapons smuggling and prevent provocations. As Vershinin recalled earlier, the Russia-UN memorandum is valid until 2025.

The grain deal ended on July 17, 2023. Russia, which several times extended the agreement on the Black Sea corridor for ships with Ukrainian grain concluded in July 2022, recalled that the part of the deal concerning the Russian Federation - the removal of obstacles to agricultural exports - was never implemented. Moscow also drew attention to the fact that the agreements were designed to send food to the poorest countries, but the bulk of the grain from Ukraine went to developed Western countries. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Russia is ready to return to the deal, but only when its part concerning Moscow is fulfilled.