The Foreign Ministry called the new UN proposals on the grain deal meaningless

The new UN proposals for a grain deal do not contain any new elements and cannot become the basis for the normalization of Russian agricultural exports, declared Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

The Foreign Ministry explained that the UN Secretary General and his experts put forward four proposals: “SWIFT for the subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank”; creation of an insurance platform; unblocking the foreign assets of Russian fertilizer companies and establishing access for our ships to European ports.” The Russian side, in turn, is expected to guarantee the restoration of the “Black Sea Initiative”. The Ministry called these measures palliative, designed to create only the appearance of work, and not leading to the lifting of sanctions.

Russia’s principled position on this issue remains unchanged: they are ready to revive the “Black Sea Initiative” only after the full implementation of the requirements for lifting the sanctions status from Russian companies engaged in the field of agricultural products and fertilizers, the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.

The fact that Russia is ready to think about the resuscitation of the grain deal, but only after the implementation of all the agreements recorded in it, said Russian President Vladimir Putin at a joint press conference with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on September 4. At the same time, Russia intends to continue exporting food and fertilizers to improve the situation in the global agricultural sector.

The Black Sea Initiative was signed on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine. On July 17, Russia announced its withdrawal from the grain deal. The Kremlin explained this by the failure to fulfill the second part of the agreement, which concerns, among other things, the lifting of restrictions on the supply of Russian products.