UN Secretary General "concerned" that Russia may withdraw from "grain agreement" in July

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Monday, 12 June, that he is concerned that Russia could withdraw from an agreement on 17 July that allows safe exports of grain and fertiliser from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports during wartime.

Source: Reuters

Details: Russia threatened to withdraw from the "grain agreement" brokered by the UN and Türkiye July 2022, if obstacles to Russia’s own grain and fertilisers supplies are not removed.

Quote: "I am concerned and we are working hard in order to make sure that it will be possible to maintain the Black Sea initiative and at the same time that we are able to go on in our work to facilitate Russian exports," Guterres told reporters.

"To convince Russia to agree to the Black Sea grain deal, a three-year memorandum of understanding was struck at the same time under which U.N. officials agreed to help Russia with its own food and fertiliser exports.

While Russian exports of food and fertiliser are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments," Reuters said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Serhii Vershynin emphasised on Saturday that Russia "cannot be satisfied with how this memorandum is being implemented".

Among the demands that Russia has made are the resumption of ammonia exports through the pipeline to the Ukrainian port Pivdennyi and the connection of Rosselkhozbank  [Russian Agricultural Bank – ed.] to the SWIFT international payment system.

Background: 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 agreement" does not provide the satisfaction of any Russian needs, and the issues of the ammonia pipeline operation and the lifting of sanctions on Russian banks initiated by Russia are currently being discussed separately.

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