The Foreign Ministry said there were no grounds for continuing the grain deal

There are no grounds for continuing the grain deal, which expires on July 17. About it declared at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The ministry emphasized that the Russian side continues to fulfill its obligations and is making efforts so that all ships participating in it can complete their mission and leave the Black Sea before the end of the deal.

“A year after the signing of the Istanbul agreements, no one has any more illusions and doubts about either the humanitarian orientation of the Black Sea Initiative or about the prospects for the implementation of the Russia-UN Memorandum on the normalization of domestic exports of agricultural products and fertilizers,” the ministry said.

The deal turned into a “purely commercial export of Ukrainian food to “well-fed” countries,” as 81% of the grain exported from Ukrainian ports was sent to countries with high and upper middle income levels, and not to the poorest states, as was originally supposed. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, only two ships of the UN World Food Program and 90 commercial grain carriers became participants in the initiative during the year.

Since July 2022, the EU has imposed five new packages of sanctions on Russia, in addition to US and UK sanctions that have blocked Russian agricultural exports. Of the “systemic tasks” that Moscow insisted on, the first three – reconnecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, supplying spare parts for agricultural machinery and resuming the operation of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline – were “removed from the agenda,” the ministry noted, stressing that “achievement there is no progress on the remaining two.” We are talking about the unfreezing of Russian assets and the restoration of transport logistics and insurance.

The Foreign Ministry accused the UN leadership of “keeping silence” in relation to the explosions of the ammonia pipeline and Nord Stream. The department added that the West has publicly stated that there will be no easing of anti-Russian sanctions.

“Under these conditions, it is obvious that there are no grounds for further continuation of the Black Sea Initiative, which expires on July 17,” the ministry said.

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 concluded 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. In May, the deal was extended until July 17.

In June, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia could withdraw from the grain deal after it ends on July 17, the Kremlin sees no prerequisites for its extension. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov saidthat he sees no arguments in favor of extending the Black Sea initiative.