Russia on Tuesday responded to the UN by saying it is currently “impossible” to renew agreements allowing Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea, insisting on default with the Russian side.
“Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to renew this agreement because it has not been implemented,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a routine daily press conference by phone.
Peskov added that UN Secretary-General António Guterres once again submitted to Russian President Vladimir Putin “a kind of action plan and a promise that the Russian part” of the agreements would one day be fulfilled.
“President Putin has made it clear that Russia is ready to immediately renew the agreement as soon as [os compromissos com o lado russo] are being implemented,” Peskov stressed.
On Monday, the UN secretary-general urged Russia to return to an agreement on grain exports via the Black Sea, arguing that the protocol is “fundamental to guarantee the stability of supplies and prices.”
“I ask the Russian Federation to renew the application of the Black Sea agreements and call on the international community to remain united in this effort to find effective solutions,” Guterres said at the opening in Rome of the UN Food Systems Summit, a meeting organized jointly with the Italian government.
Home to several UN agencies involved in the food sector (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development – IFAD and the World Food Program – WFP), the Italian capital is hosting a meeting this week to wrap up the agreements reached two years ago at the Food Systems Conference in New York.
On Wednesday, Putin assured that Russia was ready to return to the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grains, which it suspended on July 17, given that its deliveries of agricultural products and fertilizers are blocked by Western sanctions, if its demands are met “in full”, and without which the extension of the pact “no longer makes sense.”
Russia’s demands include the reintegration of its agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank into the SWIFT international banking system, the lifting of sanctions on spare parts for agricultural machinery, the unblocking of transport logistics and insurance, and the unfreezing of assets.
The Russian authorities also intend to reopen the Togliatti-Odessa oil pipeline, which is designed to export ammonia, a crucial component of Russian fertilizers. Disabled since the beginning of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the structure was damaged by an explosion on June 5, for which Moscow blamed Kiev.
The agreements signed in Istanbul in the summer of 2022 by Ukraine and Russia, mediated by the UN and Turkey, relate to Ukrainian grains and the export of Russian fertilizers and food products.
According to the UN, since the entry into force of the agreement, about 33 million tons of grain have been shipped from the ports of southern Ukraine.
The Russian military offensive into Ukraine, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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