Russia says Black Sea grain deal may be nearly over - Reuters
Russia said there had been a failure of the inspection regime of ships carrying grain from Ukraine
Russia on Thursday said there would be no extension of the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal beyond May 18 unless the West removed a series of obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizer, Reuters reports.
The Ukraine grain Black Sea export deal was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July last year to help alleviate a global food crisis worsened by conflict disrupting exports from two of the world's leading grain suppliers.
"We note that despite all the high-sounding statements about global food security and assistance to countries in need, the Black Sea Initiative both served and continues to serve exclusively commercial exports of Kyiv in the interests of Western countries," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
To help persuade Russia to allow Ukraine to resume its Black Sea grain exports last year, a separate three-year agreement was also struck in July in which the United Nations agreed to help Russia with its food and fertilizer exports. Russia said the two agreements were "interconnected parts of one 'package," and scolded the U.N. Secretariat for what it said was a distortion of the facts. Russia says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance are a barrier to shipments of its food and fertilizers.
The Foreign Ministry said that Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) had to be reconnected to the SWIFT payment system, that supplies of agricultural machinery and parts needed to be resumed, and that restrictions on insurance and reinsurance needed to be lifted. Other demands include access to ports, the resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline that lets Russia pump the chemical to Ukraine's port, and the unblocking of assets and the accounts of Russian companies involved in food and fertilizer exports.
"The removal of obstacles to domestic agricultural exports was supposed to take place within the framework of the implementation of the Russia-UN Memorandum," Mr. Lavrov was quoted as saying.
Russia said there had been a failure of the inspection regime of ships carrying grain from Ukraine. It accused U.N. staff in the Joint Coordination Center of refusing to draw up an inspection schedule.