The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed to the unwillingness to speed up the inspection of ships as part of the grain deal

Moscow is not ready to sacrifice the quality of ship inspections carried out as part of the grain initiative for the sake of the speed of the process, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said on Saturday.

He recalled the work in Istanbul of the Joint Coordinating Center (JCC), which operates on the basis of previously reached procedural agreements. According to Vershinin, the parties agreed that grain deliveries from Ukraine would be without unnecessary cargo, especially dangerous ones, and “it’s wrong to talk about the need for more, faster, faster.”

“We have heard demands to increase the number of inspections. But this can be done, apparently, only at the expense of quality, due to the fact that there will be a danger of passing the wrong cargo or improperly designed ships. We cannot allow this,” said he (quote from RIA Novosti)

On April 11, the SKC in Istanbul was unable to inspect the vessels for the grain deal. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary General, explained that “it took the parties more time to reach an agreement on operational priorities.” He specified that 50 ships are expected to be sent to Ukrainian ports. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the inspection was slowed down due to “the actions of the Ukrainians themselves and the UN.” On April 12, inspections were resumed.

Dujarric also reported that inspections were not carried out on 17 and 18 April due to “lack of consent”. In particular, on April 17, the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine reported that Russia allegedly blocked ship inspections for the second time as part of a grain deal. In turn, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, blamed the Ukrainian side.

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, 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.

On March 14, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Grushko announced the extension of the grain deal for 60 days and the confirmation of its package nature. The agreement expires May 18. On April 25, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the situation around the agreement had reached a dead end. The minister pointed to the unwillingness to remove obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers, despite their shortage, and also to connect Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT.