Moscow, Russia – Moscow on Thursday reiterated the need to fully implement the provisions of the Russia-UN memorandum for the resumption of the grain deal, Alexey Polishchuk, head of the second department of the CIS countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an interview with the Russian news agency TASS.
“As for the feasibility of the scenario for the resumption of the Black Sea initiative, the Russian position is as follows: first, it is necessary to fully implement the tasks within the framework of the Russia-UN memorandum on normalization of domestic agricultural exports. So far, despite the efforts of the UN, we have not seen progress in lifting sanctions restrictions from our economic operators, engaged in production and export, including in the areas of bank payments, insurance, transport logistics and the supply of spare parts to Russia,” the diplomat said.
The implementation of the grain deal, an agreement on a corridor for ships with Ukrainian grain concluded in July 2022, was terminated on July 17. Russia notified Turkey, Ukraine and the UN of its objection to its extension from July 18.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously noted that the terms of the deal with regard to Russia were not met, despite the efforts of the UN, because Western countries were not going to keep their promises. The Russian leader repeatedly pointed out that the West exported most of the Ukrainian grain to their states, while the deal’s main aim, which was to supply grain to needy countries, including African ones, was never implemented.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is ready to return to the deal but only when its part concerning Moscow is fulfilled.