UKRAINE-CRISIS/GRAINS-RUSSIA (PHOTO) – REUTERS Agency
MOSCOW, June 10 (Reuters) – Russia remains dissatisfied with the implementation of the Black Sea grain deal, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said on Saturday, after meeting with top UN trade officials on Saturday, the news agency reported. TASS news agency.
Russia has threatened to leave the pact on July 17 if its demands to improve its own food and fertilizer exports are not met. The agreement, reached in July last year, facilitates the “safe shipping” of grain, food and fertilizer – including ammonia – for export to world markets.
“We cannot be satisfied with the way this memorandum is being implemented,” Vershinin said. “There are still barriers to our exports.”
Russia agreed to a two-month extension of the agreement last month, but has said the initiative will end unless a deal aimed at overcoming obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports is fulfilled.
Among Moscow’s demands is the resumption of the transit of ammonia from Russia through Ukrainian territory to the port of Pivdennyi in Odessa, from where it is exported. The transit of ammonia, a major part of nitrogen-based fertilizers, was disrupted after Russia sent its troops to Ukraine last year.
Russian demands to improve its grain and fertilizer exports include the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT international payment system.
Although Russian food and fertilizer exports are not subject to Western sanctions, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have hampered shipments.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the attention of UN representatives was drawn to the obstacles faced by Russian agricultural producers and suppliers.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)
Source: Ambito
