Russia sees UN’s turn over grain deal
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin sees the United Nations as taking the lead for a possible new agreement on shipping Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. “The ball is – as is sometimes said now – on the side of our partners with whom we have worked. We are now waiting for a reaction from them,” Vershinin told journalists in Moscow on Friday. Russia pulled out of Ukraine’s Black Sea Safe Grain Corridor Agreement on Monday, leaving cargo ships at risk of attack amid hostilities in the region.
The deputy minister stressed that in the course of the grain agreement a year ago with the United Nations, a memorandum with a validity of three years was signed containing Russia’s conditions for the deal. Russia is asking the West to relax sanctions so that it can sell its own grain and fertilizer more easily on the world market. Moscow complains that in the course of the EU sanctions, for example, the exclusion of Russian banks from the Swift financial transaction system is hindering transactions. Insurance could not be taken out for the freighters either.
The EU emphasizes that Russian grain and fertilizer are exempt from the sanctions and that many banks are still connected to Swift. However, Vershinin countered that the “spirit of sanctions” was radiating and that many partners also shy away from doing legal business with Russia. That is why Russia wants to achieve easing in principle. At the same time, he made it clear that Russia would find ways to bring its grain and fertilizer, which are in demand in developing countries, onto the world market.