Russia says UN proposals to revive grain deal 'not new,' cannot normalize agricultural exports

As efforts to restore the Black Sea Grain Initiative continue, Russia on Wednesday said new UN proposals on the deal "are not new" and cannot normalize its agricultural exports.

In a statement on its website, the Foreign Ministry said instead of exemptions from sanctions, Russia got "a new portion of promises" from the UN Secretariat.

On July 17, Russia suspended its participation in the pact, brokered by Türkiye and the UN to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that were paused after Moscow's "special military operation" in February 2022.

Moscow has repeatedly complained that the West has not met its obligations, and there are restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance on shipments of its own food and fertilizer exports.

The ministry said the UN proposal to connect to SWIFT a subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank will not work, and only the reconnection of the bank itself will solve the problem with payments.

"The creation of a special insurance platform for Russian agricultural products has been promised to us since August 2022, but for reasons unknown it has not been done so far," it said.

The same applies to the access of Russian ships and cargo to foreign ports, and UN members have not been able to deal with the sanctions obstacles arising in this regard, it added.

According to the ministry, work under the Russia-UN memorandum on export of agricultural products has been suspended, and its coordinator Rebeca Grynspan has not accepted an invitation to visit Russia since July. The UN, it said, also stopped sending progress reports on normalization of Russian agricultural exports.

"We will be ready to consider the possibility of resuscitating the Black Sea Grain Initiative, but only after full compliance with the requirements for lifting the sanctions," it stressed.

Meanwhile, the ministry said, Russia will continue to export domestic food and fertilizers, which will help stabilize world prices and improve their overall availability, as well as donations to the countries in need.

Russian fertilizers have already been sent to Malawi and Kenya (34,000 tons), with deliveries planned for Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. As many as 200,000 tons of Russian wheat will also be sent free of charge to Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Mali, Somalia, and Zimbabwe.

"A joint project of Russia, Türkiye and Qatar to supply 1 million tons of grain from Russia for processing in Türkiye with subsequent donation to the poorest countries is also in high demand," it said.