MOSCOW, May 18. Equivalent to unblocking options for connecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT are being worked out, there are hopes after the extension of the grain deal, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, said.
Earlier he confirmed that the grain deal would be extended for two months, «there is a relative result in the negotiations with the participation of representatives of Turkey, Ukraine and the UN».
«As for guarantees for the Russian Agricultural Bank, various options are being worked out that will be equivalent to unblocking SWIFT, there are certain hopes for negotiations — based on those negotiations that have already taken place. In this regard, such a decision was made regarding the extension (of the grain deal) for two months,» Peskov told reporters, answering the question whether Moscow received guarantees to connect Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT.
According to him, it is very important to understand that the fate of the deal is still in the hands of those with whom the UN should agree on the Russian part of the agreement. «A certain part of the path has been passed, but not to the end. We will try to solve this problem to the end within the next 60 days,» Peskov said.
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. In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that the West exports most of the Ukrainian grain to its own states, and not to needy countries in Africa.
The grain initiative is an integral part of the package agreement. The second part, a three-year Russia-UN memorandum, provides for unblocking Russian exports of food and fertilizers, reconnecting the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT, resuming the supply of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services, restoring the work 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.