The whole concept of the package of agreements in Istanbul on grain runs the risk of losing its meaning, Sergey Lavrov warned the department.
Moscow considers it “irrational” to extend the grain deal unless Russia lifts sanctions affecting its agricultural exports. This was said by the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Vershinin, in an interview for RTVI, published on Monday, February 13.
According to him, Russia is not satisfied with some aspects of the deal, because it is allegedly unfairly implemented due to sanctions on Russian agricultural exports.
“If there are no visible results in the implementation of the Russia-UN memorandum, especially in the real removal of sanctions restrictions on Russian agricultural exports, the concept of the Istanbul package agreements and the simple extension of the Ukrainian document is not applicable,” said Vershinin.
According to him, less than 3% of Ukrainian grain is exported to the poorest countries, and most of it goes to the EU and such developed countries as South Korea and Israel.
Vershinin complained that progress in promoting Russian agricultural exports under the UN deal is “tending to zero.”
“Progress in the implementation of the Russia-UN memorandum on the normalization of domestic agricultural exports tends to zero – all restrictions on bank payments, insurance, access to ports remain and the new ones was added to them. Under these conditions, the whole concept of the package of interconnected agreements in Istanbul aimed at overcoming the food crisis, risks losing its meaning,” said the Russian diplomat.
Earlier, the UN acknowledged that there were difficulties with the Black Sea grain initiative, but it was not blocked, and work was underway to continue it. The deal will be renewed in March.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.