The Foreign Ministry responded to the State Department’s request to clarify Russia’s requirements on the grain deal

The US Embassy can contact the Russian Foreign Ministry for additional clarifications if the available information on the grain deal is insufficient, stated official representative of the Russian diplomatic department Maria Zakharova.

She cited James O’Brien, head of the US State Department’s Sanctions Coordination Office, who held an online briefing on August 4.

“First of all, Russia needs to clarify what it is asking for. She put forward a number of different demands, all of them related to the fact that various Russian institutions do not receive services from the private sector,” O’Brien said.

Commenting on this statement, Zakharova stressed in her Telegram channel that Russia wants the second part of the Black Sea Initiative package agreement to be implemented.

“We repeat again for those who are in the State Department. <...> Everything that is recorded on paper is certified by the UN Secretary General. If the information on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry is not enough, then a representative of the US Embassy can contact the Foreign Ministry for additional clarifications,” she wrote.

State Department spokesman saidthat the United States did not impose sanctions on Russian food and fertilizers, and that Moscow’s complaints relate to “specific commercial organizations.” Russia, O’Brien said, should explain “how it intends to provide more food and to whom.”

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. On July 17, 2023, Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Initiative, as the second part of the agreement remained unfulfilled.

On August 2, Russian and Turkish Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed a grain deal. Putin announced Moscow’s readiness to return to the agreement as soon as the West fulfills its second part. Also in the Kremlin stressedthat Moscow is not ready to take “word of mouth” the statements of US officials who promise to facilitate the export of fertilizers when the grain deal is resumed.