Foreign Minister Lavrov: Russia’s part of grain deal not complied with, obstacles persist
Lavrov said the Russian part of the grain deal is not being fulfilled, obstacles are obstructed in any way and even toughened.
“The Russian part of this package, which is stipulated in a special memorandum between the UN and our country, is not being implemented at all. Both our Turkish friends and the initiator of the whole package, Mr. (António) Guterres, the UN secretary general, address the relevant appeals and demands to Western countries, but all in vain. The obstacles to financing, logistical clearance, insurance of Russian exports remain and are even tightening,” the Russian minister said at a briefing in Ankara after his talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
“We will, of course, discuss additionally with Turkish friends further prospects of this whole situation in conditions when the decisions taken at the initiative of the UN secretary general are blocked,” Lavrov added.
He noted that Russia had gone for a slight aggravation” by extending the grain deal by 60 days.
“We and had to, having once extended this deal for a second period of 120 days and finding no signs that anyone can actually resolve these issues, tired of appealing to the conscience of those on whom it depends, well, we, yes, went for a slight aggravation and offered to extend this deal for only 60 days, on the basis that if there is no further progress in removing obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and grain, we will then think whether this deal is needed,” Lavrov said at the press conference.
The grain deal, which was signed by representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN on 22 July 2022, envisages the export of Ukrainian grain, food and fertilizers via the Black Sea from three ports, including Odessa. The Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul is in charge of coordinating the movement of ships.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia insisted on the package nature of the grain deal and its full implementation, so that the products would not be sent to satiated countries, but to Africa. Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, earlier indicated in his letter to the deputy secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, that Russia “has no objection” to extending the Black Sea grain initiative by 60 days – until 18 May 2023.
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel