Grain Initiative does not achieve full operation despite Russia's claims

Despite the Russian Federation's declaration of readiness to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative, its full operation has not yet been ensured.

Source: Reuters

Details: Reuters noted that the UN and Türkiye "are working closely with the rest of the parties with the aim to resume full operations... and lift all impediments that obstruct operations and limit the scope of the Initiative".

Earlier, Ukraine accused Russia of effectively removing the Pivdennyi port from the grain initiative since no ships have been allowed to enter the port since 29 April.

Instead, Russia complained that they could not export ammonia through the pipeline to the Pivdennyi port in accordance with the agreement. The UN said that the grain initiative also provides for the export of fertilisers, including ammonia, but "there have been no such exports so far".

Reuters added that 54 ships were waiting to enter Ukrainian ports as of Friday, 26 May. Eleven applications out of these were submitted for registration.

The report also said that the average number of daily entry and exit checks in May fell to 3.2, the lowest level since the initiative began in August.

Russia is currently trying to implement two of its demands, Reuters explains. Firstly, it seeks to launch the pipeline for the transportation of ammonia to the Ukrainian Pivdennyi port for further export to world markets. Secondly, it demands to connect Rosselkhozbank [Russian Agricultural Bank – ed.], disconnected from it as part of sanctions, to the SWIFT international payment network.

Background: 

• Russia agreed to resume inbound inspections of ships entering two of the three ports covered by the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
• Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, said that the Black Sea Grain Initiative has been unblocked and will continue to operate until 18 July.
• The grain initiative does not provide for the satisfaction of any needs of the Russian Federation, and the issues of the operation of the ammonia pipeline and the lifting of sanctions on Russian banks initiated by Russia are currently being discussed separately.

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