Putin comments on future of grain deal
Russia is considering pausing its participation in the UN-facilitated grain deal until its food and fertilizer exports are unblocked, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. None of the promises made to Moscow under the agreement have been fulfilled as of yet, he said, adding that the deal has been a "one-way street case."
Moscow may no longer be willing to extend the agreement in the hope that Western nations and the UN fulfill their end of the bargain, the president said. "We can suspend our participation in this deal," he said, adding that "everyone is once again telling [us] that all the promises made will be kept."
"Let them deliver on this promise first; then we’ll immediately return to the deal again," Putin stated.
Formally known as the Black Sea Initiative, the agreement between Moscow and Kiev was mediated by the UN and Türkiye back in the summer of 2022. The deal was accompanied by a Russia-UN memorandum aimed at facilitating unimpeded Russian agricultural exports.
The goals of the memorandum included allowing Russia’s major agricultural lender, Rosslekhozbank, back onto the SWIFT payments system, enabling deliveries of spare parts for agriculture machinery, restarting the Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, sorting out insurance and logistics, as well as "unfreezing" Russian assets.
According to Putin, none of those aims have been achieved. "Nothing – and I want to underscore it – nothing has been done. That was a one-sided game all along. Not a single goal linked to the interests of the Russian Federation was met," he said, adding that Moscow had repeatedly extended the deal in good faith despite this fact.
The president also said he had not seen a letter that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres sent him earlier this week. The UN said previously that the letter contained suggestions aimed at fulfilling the Russia-UN memorandum and preserving the deal. The international body also said Moscow had allegedly received the letter and was reviewing it.
The deal was originally touted as a way of avoiding a food crisis by steering grain toward poor nations. However, according to Moscow, only a tiny percentage of the grain exported from Ukraine as part of the agreement was shipped to such nations, while the bulk of it ended up in Europe.
"Out of all the foodstuffs and grain in particular shipped away from the Ukrainian territory, only slightly more than 3% was delivered to the world’s poorest nations," the Russian president said on Thursday. Now, many European nations have started forgoing Ukrainian grain, he told the Russian media, adding that it was the West and not Russia that "started discriminating against Ukrainian grain."
Originally intended to last three months, the deal was prolonged numerous times over the past year, despite growing concerns repeatedly voiced by Moscow over its failure to provide any benefits for Russia. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned over the past month that it sees no reason to extend the deal, which is set to expire on July 17.
