EU declares Russia-Ukraine grain deal 'dead'
(Baonghean.vn) - The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said it was impossible to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative because Russia was unwilling to return to the agreement.
Moscow withdrew from the deal in July, accusing the West of blocking its full implementation.
Speaking at a press conference in New York, Borrell rejected Russia’s demand to lift restrictions on its exports of agricultural products and fertilizers, stressing that EU sanctions do not affect transport in these areas. “Don’t look for excuses, don’t look for false arguments,” instead Russia must “stop destroying Ukraine’s infrastructure” and allow Ukrainian grain exports, Borrell said.
“There doesn’t seem to be any possibility of reaching an agreement (with Russia), because I really believe they don’t want this agreement,” the senior EU official concluded.
Russia insists it will not abandon its conditions for reviving the grain deal. The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye last year, was meant to facilitate Ukraine’s grain exports to world markets, especially poor countries, in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions that have hampered Russian agricultural exports. But Russia says the West continues to block its exports of food and fertilizer. One of Moscow’s main demands is that the state-owned agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank be granted access to the SWIFT system.
Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed granting Rosselkhozbank’s Luxembourg branch access to SWIFT, as well as a UN-sponsored insurance scheme for Russian food and fertilizer exports. The Kremlin, however, rejected the proposal. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that “the agreements should provide SWIFT access to Rosselkhozbank itself in Russia, not to its branch.”
Mr. Peskov added that Moscow is ready to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative only if all the conditions are met, stressing that “they do not need any distortions or interpretations. The conditions are absolutely clear and all this is completely realistic.” The Russian Foreign Ministry also expressed skepticism about the UN proposal, describing it as empty promises similar to those proposed to Moscow before./.
