NICOSIA, September 6. /TASS/. The UN currently has no instruments that would make it possible to the Organization to achieve the implementation of the grain deal, says Benon Sevan, former Assistant Secretary-General in the UN Department of Political Affairs, commenting on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ mediation efforts.
"Unfortunately, the UN today does not have the power that would allow to implement agreements. This fully applies to the grain deal," Sevan told TASS.
Previously, Sevan chaired UN’s Oil-for-Food Program, which was supposed to soften the consequences of international economic sanctions for the people of Iraq.
Earlier, Guterres sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with proposals on restoration of the grain deal. After the Sochi talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the UN Security General proposed a mediation mechanism for Russia’s participation in the grain deal without restoration of Russia’s direct connection to the SWIFT payment system.
"The fact that the UN Secretary General is involved [in the implementation of the grain deal] is good, but I can understand the Russians also, which, when concluding the agreement, was promised certain things, but they have never been fulfilled," Sevan continued. "When the deal was made, it was agreed that Russia could also supply grain and fertilizers to the market, but this condition was not met, and these are double standards."
"You either negotiate with the parties to the agreement and implement honestly the agreement you reached, or in case of non-fulfillment [of the conditions], you admit that the deal does not work. And pointing the finger at Russia and repeating every time that it is to blame, this approach will not work," the former UN official concluded.
The implementation of the grain deal, which implies export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports and normalization of export of Russian agricultural products and fertilized to global markets, was ended on July 17 over the non-implementation of Russia’s demands. Speaking at the press conference after the talks with Erdogan, Putin said that Moscow is ready to return to the grain deal within several days since the moment of fulfillment of promises given earlier.