GENEVA, June 10 The UN, despite all efforts, could not convince the Europeans to reconnect Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, Russia needs results on the implementation of the memorandum with the UN on the export of agricultural products, told Russian Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Vershinin told journalists following the negotiations with the UN in Geneva.
«And, of course, the essential question that we asked, demanded, is the reSWIFTing (reconnection to the SWIFT payment system — ed.) of Rosselkhozbank. In essence, today the UN recognized that such reSWIFTing, such actions stumble upon a complete wall of negativity from those who make decisions in the European Union and other Western capitals,» he said.
Vershinin called this position of the West «hypocritical» and «two-faced» because, in his opinion, there is a very big difference between the words that are spoken about alleged seizures for agricultural exports from Russia and what is actually happening.
“We do not deny these efforts (UN — ed.), we see and know about it, but we say very simply: we need not only efforts, we need results. And, unfortunately, it is impossible for UN representatives to boast of results. barriers to transactions, to reinsurance and insurance, to the unfreezing of those financial assets owned by Russian companies and economic operators remain, there is no progress in this direction,» the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation expressed regret.
In Geneva on June 9, a new round of talks between Russia, represented by Vershnin, and the UN, represented by UNCTAD Secretary General Rebecca Greenspan, took place on a memorandum within the «grain deal».
The Black Sea Initiative, which was signed on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN, involves the export of Ukrainian grain, as well as fertilizers 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.
The 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, among the main tasks was 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.