Russia sets conditions for returning to grain deal with Ukraine
(Baonghean.vn)- On September 10, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia will return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative on the day Moscow's conditions regarding the country's grain and fertilizer exports to the global market are met.
Russia abandoned the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July, a year after reaching a deal brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye, citing obstacles to Moscow's food and fertilizer exports and insufficient Ukrainian grain to ship to countries in need.
Speaking at a press conference after attending the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, Mr. Lavrov stated: "When all the necessary actions to remove obstacles to our grain and fertilizer exports are taken, on the same day we will return to implementing the provisions related to Ukraine in the 'Black Sea initiative'."
In a letter seen by Reuters this week, the UN told Moscow that a branch of the Russian Agricultural Bank in Luxembourg could immediately apply to join the international payment system SWIFT, which would “effectively give the bank access to SWIFT within 30 days” - an idea Lavrov dismissed at the press conference. He stressed that “no one, including (UN Secretary-General) Antonio Guterres,” had promised that the Russian Agricultural Bank would be reconnected to SWIFT and that the bank’s Luxembourg branch did not have a banking license and planned to close.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after the G20 summit that Russia cannot be excluded from the grain deal as the country is facing increasing tensions in the region. “I have the opportunity at this summit to discuss the grain deal in detail. This deal helped avoid a food crisis in the world. As you know, it has been extended three times. 33 million tons of grain have been supplied during this time. The process without Russia will hardly be sustainable. Russia cannot be excluded from the grain process. There must be no intention to create tension in the region,” he said./.
