UN, July 17 The UN will continue to seek access to world markets for both Ukrainian and Russian food and fertilizers, told reporters UN Secretary General António Guterres.
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. The regime of the area temporarily dangerous for navigation is being restored there. Thus, without the participation of Russia, the Black Sea Grain Initiative ceases to function from July 18.
The UN Secretary General expressed his disappointment that his proposal to connect a subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, set out in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, «remained without attention.»
According to Guterres, today's decision of the Russian Federation to stop the Black Sea initiative «will strike at those in need everywhere.»
“But this will not stop our efforts to ensure unhindered access to the global food and fertilizer markets from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” Guterres said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously repeatedly pointed out that the West exported most of the Ukrainian grain to their states, and the main goal of the deal — the supply of grain to countries in need, including on the African continent — was never realized. Putin also noted that the Secretary General and UN staff are sincerely striving to fulfill the terms of the deal with Russia, but they are not succeeding because the Western countries are not going to keep their promises.
It was previously reported that on Tuesday Guterres sent a letter to Putin with a proposal aimed at extending the Black Sea initiative. Reuters, citing sources familiar with the discussions, reported that the letter proposed extending the Black Sea grain initiative for several more months — at least before the EU connects a Russian bank's subsidiary to SWIFT.
The Black Sea Initiative, which was signed on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN, involved the export of Ukrainian grain and food, as well as fertilizers across the Black Sea from three ports, including Odessa. The Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul was in charge of coordinating the movement of ships. The grain initiative was an integral part of the package agreement. The second part — the Russia-UN memorandum, designed for three years — provided 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.