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| UN Secretary General sends proposals on grain deal to Putin |
| 2023-07-13 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Regnum] UN Secretary-General António Guterres sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin with proposals to extend the grain deal. This was announced by the office of the Secretary General. “As part of the ongoing efforts in this direction, the Secretary General sent a letter yesterday to President Vladimir Putin outlining a proposal aimed at improving the implementation of the memorandum of understanding in order to maintain the Black Sea initiative,” said Stefan Dujarric, a spokesman for Guterres . He noted that the Secretary General is ready to interact with Russia on his proposals and remains in contact with the relevant parties. In particular, in the letter, Guterres touched on the topic of settlements through the Russian Agricultural Bank. “The goal is to remove obstacles to financial transactions through the Russian Agricultural Bank, which Russia has repeatedly insisted on, as well as to simultaneously allow the continuation of the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea,” Dujarric said. Guterres has previously sent Putin proposals for a grain deal. In April 2023, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that they would be studied. He noted that if the document is leaked, this will mean another attempt to put pressure on Russia. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin also stated that the proposals formulated by the UN Secretary General "contain new ideas." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on July 12 that the country is continuing negotiations to extend the Black Sea initiative, which expires on July 17. According to him, thanks to the deal, more than 33 million tons of grain entered the world markets. The Turkish leader noted that Moscow has proposals on this issue, which Ankara is studying. As IA Regnum reported, a grain deal for a period of 120 days was agreed in 2022 and extended several times. It consists of two agreements regulating the export of Ukrainian grain and the access of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets. Moscow repeatedly pointed out non-compliance with the terms of the deal, but on May 17 agreed to a two-month extension of the grain deal. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that they see no progress in resolving three of the five tracks under the grain deal. The head of the department, Sergei Lavrov, said on June 14 that the future of the agreement depends on the fulfillment of the conditions of the Russian side. He stressed that if Russia's conditions are not met by July 17, Moscow's continued participation in the deal is out of the question. Lavrov noted that the Ukrainian part of the agreements during this time has turned into a commercial project. This was also stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin , who allowed the withdrawal from the "Black Sea Grain Initiative." The head of state stressed that the corridors along which the ships go are constantly used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to launch drones. Later, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that part of the conditions for the grain deal had not yet been fulfilled. This is how he commented on the consideration by the European Union of the possibility of creating a subsidiary company for connection to the international SWIFT system by Rosselkhozbank. Peskov added that there are few hopes for this. Mikhail Delyagin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, commented on this statement in an interview with IA Regnum . He noted that Russia has reason to hope that the grain deal will not be extended. Delyagin doubted that Russia would not be able to export grain without participating in the agreement and said he did not see a problem in the lack of access to SWIFT. Related: Grain deal: 2023-07-12 Kremlin calls Macron's plans to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles a mistake Grain deal: 2023-07-11 Lavrov announced the readiness of the Russian Federation to meet the needs of Arab countries in grain Grain deal: 2023-07-10 Why Erdogan supported Ukraine's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance |
| Posted by:badanov |