Russia’s Lavrov blames West for deadlock over method ahead for Black Sea grain deal

By Reuters: Moscow has seen “practically no results” from a pact with the United Nations that aimed to help Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports and blamed Western worldwide areas for making a deadlock, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Russia has signaled that till a list of requires is met to remove obstacles to those exports, it isn’t going to agree to extend a related deal previous May 18 that allows the safe wartime export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

Lavrov, at a info conference on the United Nations in New York, praised the work of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and U.N. help chief Martin Griffiths of their bid “to reach agreement with countries that have announced illegitimate and lateral sanctions against the Russian Federation.”

“But there has been practically no result,” Lavrov said.

Russia signed a three-year deal closing July throughout which the United Nations agreed to help try to remove any obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports. While these exports are normally not matter to Western sanctions imposed following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on funds, logistics and insurance coverage protection are a barrier to shipments.

U.S. BANK TRANSACTION

One of Russia’s requires is for the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to return to the SWIFT banking system. Lavrov said that there have been no plans for that to happen and as an alternative Guterres had proposed that U.S. banks would possibly help the Russian Agricultural Bank with transactions.

Lavrov said one monetary establishment “kindly consented to finance one operation,” nevertheless that this was not a long-term decision.

“If you want every time for us and the U.N. Secretary-General to run back and forth and to plead with any given U.S. financial structure for them to be so magnanimous, then you understand that cannot work and it will not work,” he said.

A provide conversant within the transaction said the U.S. State Department and U.S. Treasury had requested JPMorgan Chase & Co to carry out the “very limited and highly monitored” transaction in relation to the export of agricultural provides, which occurred this month. The provide said there might presumably be extra transactions.

A JPMorgan Chase & Co spokesperson declined comment. U.S. Treasury did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

‘NOT THE DEAL WE REACHED’

The pact with the United Nations helped persuade Russia to allow Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports under a deal – moreover brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July closing 12 months – presupposed to cope with a world meals catastrophe that U.N. officers said was worsened by the invasion.

Guterres met with Lavrov on Monday and gave him a letter to ship to Russian President Vladimir Putin that outlines a way forward aimed on the enchancment, extension and enlargement of the Ukraine Black Sea grain deal, a U.N. spokesperson said.

“The reaction to this correspondence will arise after the recipient reads it,” Lavrov said at Tuesday’s info conference.

In return for extending that settlement previous May 18, Russia has moreover demanded that the supply of agricultural gear to Russia be allowed, restrictions on insurance coverage protection be lifted and for Russian ships and cargo to be allowed port entry.

It moreover needs a pipeline that delivers Russian ammonia to a Ukrainian Black Sea port to be restarted, and financial actions of Russian fertilizer companies to be unblocked.

Unless Russia would possibly export grain and fertilizer globally with out hindrance, Moscow could not accept the selection of attending to “each time manually take the effort and plead” with American and European ports, banks and insurance coverage protection companies for help, Lavrov said.

“That’s not the deal we reached on 22 July last year,” he said.

He said Russia has not talked about the Ukraine grain Black Sea export care for Moscow’s strategic confederate China, which is the most important recipient of grain under the settlement.

Nearly 29 million tonnes of grain has been exported under the Black Sea grain care for 6.7 million tonnes going to China, in line with information from the Joint Coordination Centre, which is made up of officers from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the U.N. and oversees the implementation of the settlement.