MOSCOW (Reuters) – Only its full implementation can save the Black Sea grain deal from collapse, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, reaffirming Moscow’s dissatisfaction with an accord that aims to prevent a global food crisis.
The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July, allows Ukrainian grain trapped by the conflict to be safely exported from the country’s Black Sea ports.
But Russia has repeatedly said it will not allow the deal to be extended beyond May 18 unless the West removes obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports.
“(The deal) is not a buffet you can pick and choose from,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a regular news conference in Moscow, adding that implementation of the deal so far had been unsatisfactory.
Russia and Ukraine are major grain producers, but Moscow says parts of the deal that are meant to allow it to export its own agricultural goods via the Black Sea are not being honoured.
Although Russia’s agricultural exports have not been explicitly targeted by Western sanctions, Moscow says restrictions on its payments, logistics and insurance industries – imposed over its military actions in Ukraine – have created a barrier to the export of its grains and fertilisers.
One of Russia’s main demands in negotiations is the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT payments system.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Gareth Jones)
