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MOSCOW, July 17 The decision on the grain deal is expected; interests of the Russian Federation, said Oleg Morozov, deputy of the State Duma from United Russia.
Russia on Monday notified Turkey, Ukraine and the UN that it was opposed to extending the grain deal. This means the withdrawal of Russian guarantees for the safety of navigation and the curtailment of the maritime humanitarian corridor in the northwestern Black Sea. For this area, the regime temporarily dangerous for navigation is being restored. Thus, without the participation of Russia, the Black Sea Grain Initiative ceases to function from July 18.
“It has become quite clear that it is wrong to participate in this deal simply by showing goodwill, neither from a political, nor from an economic, nor from a humanitarian point of view. Therefore, I think that everyone who follows this process, this field of interaction with Turkey, the United Nations, the world community approve this decision of the president. This is right, and Russia's interests should come first,» Morozov said.
He noted that every time the grain deal was extended, Russia understood that this mechanism was used against the Russian Federation, while not being used for the poorest countries.
«We all perfectly understood that we were going to meet the UN, our partnership with Turkey, if you want the public opinion, that by participating in the grain deal, we are providing maximum assistance to the poorest countries and for this we are going to this deal that is not entirely comfortable for us «, he added.
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 and food, 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 that the West exports most of the Ukrainian grain to their 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; other measures. As noted in Moscow, this part of the package agreement was not implemented.