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MOSCOW, February 8 At the moment, there are no prerequisites for resuming the grain deal in the form in which it was originally discussed — and not implemented, said Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.
“Earlier, the permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the UN in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, said in an interview that the next meeting of UN and Russian representatives on a memorandum on the export of Russian grain and fertilizers, concluded in parallel with the “grain deal,” could take place in February.
«In «At the moment, there are no prerequisites for resuming the grain deal in the form in which it was discussed and not implemented in relation to Russia. Therefore, we do not see any grounds or prerequisites for this,» Peskov said, answering a question about what is Russia's position and is it possible to resume the grain deal.
The Black Sea Initiative, which was signed by representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN on July 22, 2022, envisaged the export of Ukrainian grain and food, as well as fertilizers across the Black Sea from three ports, including Odessa. The grain deal ended on July 18, 2023, when the Russian Federation notified Turkey, Ukraine and the UN of its objection to its extension. Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the terms of the deal regarding Russia were not fulfilled, despite the efforts of the UN, because Western countries were not going to fulfill their promises. Putin has repeatedly pointed out that the West exported most of Ukrainian grain to its states, and the main goal of the deal — supplying grain to needy countries, including African ones — was never realized.
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, among the main tasks were the reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, the resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and service, the restoration of the Tolyatti — Odessa ammonia pipeline and a number of other measures. As Moscow has repeatedly noted, this part of the package agreement was not implemented.