UN, May 11. Anti-Russian sanctions do not apply to transactions that service Russian food and fertilizer exports, US State Department sanctions coordinator Jim O'Brien said at a briefing.
Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Vershinin said that the statements of Western countries about the absence of sanctions for Russian agricultural exports do not correspond to reality. According to him, the Russian Federation still faces serious barriers to agricultural and fertilizer exports, this concerns transactions, logistics, transport problems, tariffs, insurance and reinsurance.
«We regularly speak with US and foreign banks to clarify our position. We do not impose sanctions on Russian food and fertilizers, or transactions related to food and fertilizers. We have clearly indicated this, we have published licenses and (stated — ed.) in any informal conversations with banks,» O'Brien said. According to him, Britain also published a general license (on exceptions to sanctions — ed.), the EU clarified that participation in transactions and payments for food and fertilizers of the Russian Federation is acceptable.
“In a broader sense, we have offered assistance to any buyer from the developing world who claims difficulties in concluding contracts for the purchase of Russian food. We did this in direct consultations both at the UN and during trips to Africa,” the State Department spokesman said. He noted that Washington received «initially two or three questions.» «But we haven't heard concerns about difficulties in making payments to Russia,» he said. O'Brien also stated that Russia was exporting food at pre-war levels or even above pre-war levels.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was signed on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN, involves the export of Ukrainian grain, food and fertilizer across the Black Sea from three ports, including Odessa. The coordination of vessel traffic is handled by the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul. Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out in September that the West exports most of the Ukrainian grain to its own states, and not to needy countries in Africa. From March 18, 2023, Russia extended the deal for 60 days — until May 18, Ukraine insists that the deal has been extended for 120 days.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative is an integral part of the package agreement. The second part, the Russia-UN memorandum, designed for three years, provides for the unblocking of Russian exports of food and fertilizers, the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT, the resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services, the restoration of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and a number of other measures. As noted in Moscow, this part of the package agreement has not yet been implemented.