Peskov: grain deal does not benefit poor countries

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that the Presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will hold talks in Samarkand. The leaders will discuss the implementation of the grain deal. According to Mr. Peskov, the current deal does not benefit poor countries, since only two ships with food arrived in such countries.

“It is possible, necessary and already being prepared for a conversation between Putin and Erdogan, which, as we expect, will take place in Samarkand. This conversation is really overdue. We see that the Istanbul agreements are being implemented on grain. We see that especially this implementation does not give, does not bring any benefits to poor states, poor countries, because only two ships with a cargo of food arrived in these poor countries,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a press call.

Dmitry Peskov also claims that the export of Russian food and fertilizers to international markets is in fact difficult. According to him, Russian ships “cannot enter the ports: they are not accepted, they are not served.”

“At one time, when we agreed on this scheme for the export of grain from Ukrainian ports and the creation of a mechanism that would help this export begin, there was an understanding that unblocking the situation in the Black Sea, assisting this process would be linked to the process of unblocking the situation related to with the launch of Russian products on international markets,” concluded Mr. Peskov.

Former Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya declaredthat Russian ships cannot supply food to international markets. He argued that because of this, Russia may not renew the grain deal when it ends in November. Russian President Vladimir Putin also criticized the current deal for the export of grain from Ukraine. According to him, almost all food exported from Ukrainian ports ended up in Western countries.

Read more about the situation around the grain deal – in the material “Kommersant FM” “The Grain Deal is crumbling”.