The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that negotiations to extend an agreement to allow Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea were at risk, with Ukrainian authorities in the port of Odessa accusing Moscow of sabotage.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Interfax, indicated that there was a stalemate as talks continued “to no avail.”
“The position of Russia is well known. The agreement has already been extended for another two months, but the window is closing. On issues related to the Russian agro-industrial complex, the terms of the agreement have not been fully implemented, but the dialogue will continue,” he said. stated.
Peskov did not give details about the next meeting on this issue.
“I can’t say anything about the time or place. Contacts continue, but there are no results yet,” the Russian representative said.
The Black Sea Grain Agreement is an initiative signed last summer between Russia and Ukraine, brokered by the UN and Turkey, aimed at getting rid of grain and food blocked in Ukrainian ports after the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Along with the grain deal, a memorandum was also signed to ease Russian food and fertilizer exports, but Moscow says it is not being followed.
Russia even admits that it will not renew the agreement, which expires on May 18, unless there is progress in fulfilling these obligations, including the removal of barriers to agricultural exports and the return of the Rosselkhozbank Rosselkhozbank to the Swift international banking system.
A spokesman for the military leadership of the Ukrainian port of Odessa, blocked by Russian troops in the Black Sea, on Tuesday accused Moscow of “open sabotage” of the agreement, which led to a queue of ships in the Bosphorus.
“We know that the Russian Federation is openly sabotaging the Khlebnoye Accord operation,” Serhiy Bratchuk, chairman of the public council of the military administration of the Odessa region, said at a press conference.
Bratchuk explained that alleged sabotage by Russia, which Kiev accuses of delaying checks on ships that use the grain corridor to prevent them from entering to load Ukrainian grain, is delaying ships that are loading in Odessa, Ukraine’s main port.
Russia has shown reluctance to renew the agreement, which was struck in March for more than 60 days, and which allows Ukrainian grain to be shipped across the Black Sea, whose waters have been controlled by Moscow since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine, ensuring that Kyiv used the grain corridor for military purposes.
Ukraine considers this accusation absurd and accuses Russia of blackmailing the international community with world food security.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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