Kremlin: no return to grain deal

Despite the proposal of UN Secretary General António Guterres, Russia will not return to the grain deal until its conditions are met, the Kremlin said.

“The letter from Mr. Guterres again outlined a certain plan of action and promises that one day it would be possible to fulfill the Russian part of these agreements. Unfortunately, at the moment it is impossible to return to this transaction, because it is not executed, it was de facto never executed. Therefore, it is impossible,” said the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov.

At the same time, as Peskov noted, President Vladimir Putin made it clear that the Russian Federation was ready to “immediately resume the deal as soon as it is executed.”

The Kremlin spokesman also responded to Lithuania’s proposal to use the Baltic ports for grain from Ukraine. “This is the sovereign right of these states. And here we hardly have to evaluate anything. It is very important for us that different supply channels are not used by the Kyiv regime for military purposes, in order to carry out terrorist attacks on our territory,” Peskov said.

On July 24, Guterres said he had sent proposals to Putin to return to the grain initiative. What exactly was stated in the letter was not specified. On July 11, the UN Secretary General also sent a letter to the head of state, where, in particular, he proposed to connect the subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT settlement system, but not the bank itself. In Russia, they said that the reconnection should occur only for the Russian Agricultural Bank.

On July 17, Russia announced its withdrawal from the grain agreement, which was signed on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine. Separate agreements were concluded with Moscow and Kiev. Moscow has repeatedly noted that the Russian part of the deal, to help export Russian grain and fertilizers, etc., was not fulfilled.

After the decision of the Russian authorities, Peskov said that Ukraine used the grain deal zone for military purposes and this “is not a secret to anyone.” A similar statement was made by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. According to him, Kyiv used the grain corridor to “cover terrorist attacks.”