Russia today admitted not to extend the agreement on cereals that allows exporting food through the Black Sea, if there is no progress in fulfilling commitments under the memorandum between Moscow and the UN.
“Without progress in solving five systemic problems (…) there can be no talk of extending the Black Sea Initiative (grain agreement) beyond May 18,” the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Moscow asks that the Rosselkhzbank bank be reintegrated into the SWIFT financial communications system and that permissions for access to agricultural machinery be recovered, as well as authorizations for maintenance services related to the equipment.
Russia also calls for an end to restrictions on access to seaports and the re-establishment of the ammonium pipeline between Tolyatti (Russia) and Odessa, paralyzed since 2022, and also an end to the blocking of bank accounts of Russian companies linked to the production and transport of food and fertilizers.
Parallel to the cereal agreement, the United Nations established a memorandum to facilitate Russian exports (food and fertilizers).
The Black Sea Initiative for the movement of cereals was signed in July last year between Ukraine and Russia, under the diplomatic intervention of Turkey.
The agreement established a period of 120 days, renewable for the same period under the agreement of the parties.
On the 18th of March, Russia extended the validity of the treaty for only 60 days because, according to Moscow, only “half of the agreement” was fulfilled.
“We know that UN representatives apply certain efforts, but they don’t always have results. As happened before, the second half of the deal does not work. The conditions of the agreement are not fulfilled”, stressed the diplomacy of Moscow.
