The United Nations is ready to agree to any conditions of the Russian side to restore the grain deal. This was reported by the German newspaper Bild with reference to a classified letter from UN Secretary-General António Guterres to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dated 28 August, which was in its possession.
Bild writes that the UN is ready to agree to any terms with the Russian side in order to restore the grain deal. According to the German newspaper, in a confidential letter, the secretary-general of the international organisation recommends “building an agreement between the UN Secretariat and the Russian Federation on the basis of four cornerstone principles”, thanks to which it is possible to “restore the Black Sea initiative”.
The German newspaper stresses that their “implementation will lead to the fulfilment of all the requirements” that were previously voiced by the Russian Federation. According to Bild, Guterres proposes to “lift the EU financial sanctions against Rosselkhozbank (RSHB – ed.)”, which was excluded from the international payment system SWIFT in June 2022.
In a personal conversation with Bild, a representative of the European Commission confirmed that the search for a solution to this problem is already underway. According to the European politician, it is not ruled out that a special “daughter” of RSHB will be created to “make payments through SWIFT in accordance with the EU sanctions against agricultural and food operations.” The international payment system told the German newspaper that their representatives are closely monitoring the dialogues regarding the Black Sea Initiative, which are “currently underway at a high level”.
The representatives of the German newspaper claim that the UN secretary-general, in a letter to the Russian minister, spoke about the international organisation’s readiness “to insure Russian ships against Ukrainian attacks in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea within four to six weeks”. According to Guterres, such an initiative is possible with the cooperation of the major insurance company Lloyd’s.
Bild, referring to the letter, notes that Guterres wrote in his letter that representatives of the international organization have already held a dialogue with the European Commission, as well as with the authorities of Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany. The German newspaper specifies that this is necessary to restore access to EU ports for ships from Russia carrying fertilisers and foodstuffs.
According to the German newspaper, Russian representatives are studying and considering such a proposal. A Ukrainian government official told Bild that Kiev would not agree to the resumption of the deal on such terms.
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