Blinken announced the measures taken to resolve Russia’s claims to the grain deal

The US has done its best to settle Russia’s claims to the grain deal, which Moscow withdrew on July 17. This was stated by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in an interview with the French radio station RFI. Text published on the State Department website.

“As for specific points of possible problems, including with banks, transport, etc., we have done everything so that these issues are resolved. For example, I wrote letters to our banks explaining that we absolutely support the export of Russian grain and that there is nothing to be afraid of sanctions freeing Russian grain, transportation, insurance, etc.,” he said, noting that proposals to resolve Russian claims the UN also has a grain deal, but Moscow has not yet responded to them.

At the same time, Blinken noted that Russia has no problems with the export of its own grain. In early July, Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev reported that grain exports for the past agricultural year (July 2022-June 2023) largely exceeded those figures that were recorded before the start of the special operation. In particular, over the past year Russia exported record 60 million tons of grain. For comparison, in the 2021-2022 agricultural year, the volume of exports amounted to 38.1 million tons.

On August 3, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that if Moscow returned to the grain deal, Washington would “continue to do whatever is necessary” to export food. According to Blinken, during the Black Sea Initiative, the United States took various measures aimed at ensuring the export of Russian fertilizers, including writing to banks demanding “to ensure the transaction process.”

After that in the Kremlin noted, that they are not ready to take “at their word” the statements of US officials who promise to facilitate the export of fertilizers when the grain deal is resumed. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov clarifiedthat the American side should not make promises, but keep them.

The grain deal was concluded on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Turkey and the UN on the one hand and representatives of Russia and Ukraine on the other. As part of the negotiations, two agreements were signed between Moscow and Kiev. The first is for the export of Ukrainian grain from three ports, including Odessa, Yuzhny and Chornomorsk, the second is for assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers. Moscow has repeatedly stated that the second part of the deal is not being implemented. Despite this, the deal was extended several times. On July 17, 2023, Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Initiative.