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Putin, seven African leaders call for lifting sanctions on Russian grain exports

"The Leaders also called upon the United Nations to take necessary action in order to release 200 thousand tons of Russian fertilizer blocked in European Union seaports for immediate and free delivery to African countries," said the statement

PRETORIA, August 3./TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of seven African countries have come out in favor of the removal of restrictions on the export of grain and fertilizers from Russia in order to see the grain deal resumed, says a joint statement following a meeting of the leaders of the African Peace Initiative with the Russian president on July 28.

"The Leaders called for specific steps to remove obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports, thus allowing the resumption of the full implementation of the Black Sea package initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General as endorsed on 22 July 2022 in Istanbul," the joint statement said.

"The Leaders also called upon the United Nations to take necessary action in order to release 200 thousand tons of Russian fertilizer blocked in European Union seaports for immediate and free delivery to African countries," said the statement made public by the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Taking part in the meeting with Putin were President Azali Assoumani of the Comoros in his capacity as Chair of the African Union, President Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa, President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, President Abdel Fattah-el Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt, President Macky Sall of the Republic of Senegal, President Yoweri Museveni of the Republic of Uganda and Foreign Minister of Zambia, Stanley Kakubo.

Putin met with participants of the African peace mission in late July on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg. Those were the second such talks this summer. The first took place on June 17. Putin noted then, in particular, that Moscow had not refused to negotiate with Kiev and that it was the Ukrainian authorities who dumped the draft agreement initialled in Istanbul in March 2022.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that the leaders agreed to formalize the main parameters of the discussion in a joint written statement. The Russian side prepared its own draft, which was handed over to the South African delegation before their departure from St. Petersburg, and, as the Kremlin spokesman explained, the joint statement should be published by South Africa after having been coordinated.

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