Lavrov called the deadlock around the grain deal

The situation around the grain deal has reached an impasse, declared Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference.

One of the journalists asked Lavrov if Russia had responded to the UN Secretary General’s letter addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin about expanding and extending the grain deal.

“As for the letter that the Secretary General handed over to President Putin yesterday, I hope it hasn’t leaked because it’s a personal correspondence between the head of the UN and the head of a UN member state… This will mean another attempt to put pressure on the situation , which is not allowed and which is led to a dead end by our Western colleagues,” Lavrov replied.

The minister added that the parameters of the Black Sea initiative affected the export of Russian fertilizers and ammonia, but fertilizers were quickly forgotten in the West, although there is an acute shortage of ammonia on the international market. As a result, the initiative quickly grew into just a “grain” one, and from a humanitarian one it turned into a commercial one, Lavrov noted. Only 3% of the grain exported from Ukraine got to the countries in need, he explained.

Lavrov also pointed to the frivolity of the West’s approach to the implementation of the deal. In particular, no one is in a hurry to return Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT system.

“The Secretary General asked three American banks to replace SWIFT… to help Rosselkhozbank serve export operations. Several months have passed and indeed: one of the banks kindly agreed to finance one operation. But when we are told that let’s build all further work on this principle, this is not serious,” he said.

Earlier today, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov declaredthat circumstances are not yet in favor of extending the grain deal, since its conditions are still not fully implemented.

On April 14, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced five conditions for extending the grain deal, including the connection of the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT settlement system, the resumption of supplies to Russia of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services that fell under Western sanctions, as well as the abolition of restrictions on insurance and reinsurance of Russian ships with grain and lifting the ban on their access to ports.

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. Separate agreements were signed with Moscow and Kiev: the first was for the export of Ukrainian grain from three ports, including Odessa, Yuzhny and Chernomorsk, and the second was for assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers. Moscow has repeatedly noted that the second part of the deal is not being implemented.