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| Former Grain Deal News Roundup for July 25th, 2023 |
| 2023-07-26 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Regnum] Russian presidential aide for international affairs Yuri Ushakov said on July 25 that Moscow would return to the grain deal when its part of the agreement was fulfilled. “A lot of statements have already been made on the grain deal, including by the president himself, you can’t say better there. For a number of reasons that have been repeatedly stated by everyone, in particular, by the president, we have stopped our part in this deal since July 18th. But we are ready to return to participation if the obligations that were accepted in relation to the Russian side are actually implemented in practice,” he said. Ushakov stressed that the deal was not curtailed, but suspended due to the fact that the parties to the agreements did not comply with the Russian part of the package agreement. As IA Regnum reported, on July 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed the suspension of the country's participation in the agreement and noted that it would be possible to return as soon as all its participants fulfill their promises. After the deadline, on July 17, the Kremlin announced the suspension of Russia's participation in the grain deal. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the Black Sea agreements had actually ceased to be valid. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin announced the absence of negotiations on the resumption of grain deal. The diplomat recalled that earlier Russia had clearly outlined its position on this issue and after July 17 withdrew from the agreement. Vershinin noted that Russia objected to this, taking into account the accumulated experience of the Istanbul agreements. 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 emphasized that the failure to fulfill Russian conditions before July 17 means that Moscow cannot continue to participate. The Ukrainian part of the agreements, according to him, during this time has turned into a commercial project. Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said that Russia would not help deliver grain from Ukraine "to rich countries." In his speech, he noted that the UN staff, who verbally care about supplies and insistently demand to keep the "grain deal", in fact, do not fulfill the promises made to Russia, and the products from Ukraine do not go to the poorest countries. President Putin then dismissed the allegations that Ukraine is feeding the world's hungry as lies and speculation. In fact, according to him, Russia is making a significant contribution to ensuring world food security. In particular, the Russian leader pointed out that the country's share in the world wheat market is about 20%, Ukraine - about 5%. He also stated that Russia could replace Ukraine's grain both commercially and free of charge. Putin said that Russia will continue to work on the supply of grain, food, fertilizers to Africa, despite the sanctions. More from regum.ru Kuleba spoke about plans to create a new grain corridor with the help of F-16 Ukraine can use American F-16 fighter jets to create its own grain corridor. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country Dmitry Kuleba in an interview with France 24 TV channel. “If we have F-16s, we will not depend on Russia <…> in the issue of exporting Ukrainian grain to global markets,” the head of the foreign affairs department stressed. At the same time, Kuleba added that the sooner Kyiv receives aircraft, the sooner it will be able to create a new protected route for the export of its agricultural products. The minister also said that the issue of the supply of fighter jets had already been resolved. At the same time, the implementation of Kyiv's plans takes time, he added. In addition, Kuleba promised that Kyiv would continue its attempts to revive the Black Sea grain initiative. However, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said, if this is not feasible, it is necessary to create an alternative sea route for the export of Ukrainian grain, as well as ensure exports to Europe. As IA Regnum reported , the head of the military committee of the North Atlantic Alliance, Admiral Rob Bauer , is confident that the Ukrainian army will not receive F-16 fighters until the counteroffensive is completed. John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the US National Security Council, believes that deliveries of American F-16 fighters to the Kiev army may begin towards the end of 2023, but they are unlikely to change the situation at the front. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently assured that Ukraine will receive F-16 fighter jets from Western countries, but their delivery will take several months. The decision to transfer has been made, but when exactly they will begin is not yet clear, he added. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in turn, accused Western countries of delaying the process of training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. He said that a coalition of countries for the supply of fighter jets has already been formed, but there is still no schedule for training missions. Even more from regnum.ru Eastern European countries urged to extend the ban on grain imports from Ukraine Several European countries have asked the European Commission to ban grain imports from Ukraine until the end of the year, Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy wrote on July 25 on Facebook (owned by Meta, an organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation). “Together with the agriculture ministers of the border countries, we have asked Brussels to extend the import ban until the end of the year,” Nagy said. Thus, Hungary, as well as Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, asked to extend the ban on the import of Ukrainian grain, valid until September 15, until December 31, 2023. Nagy said on June 19 that the five countries of Eastern Europe intend to seek an extension of the ban on the export of Ukrainian agricultural products. We are talking about wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds. Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Slovakia are in favor of limiting the import of Ukrainian agricultural products to their markets, arguing that this is to protect local farmers from falling grain prices. On May 2, the EC introduced restrictions on the free circulation of Ukrainian grain on the territory of these countries until June 5 . On May 5, the restrictions were extended until September 15. Hungary, for its part, has proposed extending the restrictions until the end of the year. Yet more from regnum.ru Ukraine offered the EC an alternative to the grain deal Kyiv sent a letter to the European Commission (EC) with a proposal on how to export grain from the territory of Ukraine after the suspension of the grain deal. This was stated on July 25 by EC representative Miriam Garcia at a press conference in Brussels. She said that they are discussing with the Ukrainian authorities the ways of exporting grain, which can become an alternative to the channels passing through the Black Sea. “The European Commission is fully involved in the consideration of all corridors, the Baltic corridor is also very important ,” said Garcia. Earlier, Lithuania made a proposal to use the Baltic ports for the export of grain from Ukraine. As IA Regnum reported, the grain deal began to operate on July 22, 2022. As part of the agreement, grain and other agricultural products were exported from Ukraine, but the West did not fulfill any of the provisions in the interests of Russia. On July 17, 2023, Moscow refused to renew the grain deal. The Russian Defense Ministry warned that they would consider ships going to Ukrainian ports as potential arms carriers. On July 22, Ukraine reported that food exports from the country fell by 30% after the termination of the grain deal. Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko noted that Kiev, the United States and NATO needed grain corridors not for humanitarian purposes, as they said, but to cover up terrorist attacks and sabotage against Russia . Yet again, more from regnum.ru Peskov commented on the alternative grain deal proposed by Lithuania Each state has the sovereign right to export grain from Ukraine, but Russia will fight to ensure that these channels are not used for military purposes, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a July 25 briefing. He was asked to comment on Lithuania's proposal to use the Baltic ports to continue the grain deal. “It is very important for us that different supply channels are not used by the Kyiv regime for military purposes, in order to carry out terrorist attacks on our territory, and so on. We will continue to fight this ,” said a Kremlin spokesman. He stressed that it would not be possible to return to the grain deal, since it did not fulfill obligations towards Russia. Earlier, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko said that Ukraine, the United States and NATO used the grain deal to cover up sabotage and terrorist activities. She also noted that Russia will continue to supply food and fertilizers to African countries even without this initiative. As IA Regnum reported , on July 17, 2023, Russia refused to renew the grain deal that had been in effect since July 22, 2022. As President Vladimir Putin noted , within the framework of these agreements, not a single provision in the interests of Russia has been fulfilled. In addition, the West prevents even free supplies of fertilizer to countries in need. |
| Posted by:badanov |