putin wants grain deal reviewed, claims russia incapable of exporting its commodities
russia claims that it has not been able to load a single ship with food under the grain deal struck on 22 July in Turkey. The president of russia wants to change the direction of the grain and other food exports from Ukraine. He plans to discuss this issue with the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced putin during the Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok, RBC reports.
russia's president claims that virtually all ships carrying Ukrainian agri-food products "head not to the poorest countries, but to the countries of the European Union." Therefore, according to him, limiting the direction of the export of grain and other food along this route must be considered.
russia's permanent representative to the UN, vasily nebenzya, stated that nothing was implemented under the grain agreement on the export of russian grain and fertilizers: not a single russian ship took russian grain out of russian ports for export.
He added that the deal expires In November but it should be extended.
"I'm not involved in negotiating the Agreement and its extension, but given the results, or rather the absence of results, I wouldn't rule anything out," he concluded.
The kremlin's words about limiting the export of grain from Ukraine are groundless but completely predictable. The russian authorities with their blackmail are once again seeking a way out of the sanctions, said Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to the Head of the Office of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"Energy, nuclear, migration, grain, and any other formats of direct blackmail occasionally appear in the public discourse of russia's top officials when something is clearly not going according to plan, when out of fear they want Ukraine and the international community to be stopped. Therefore, the current statements about the termination of the "grain agreement" are absolutely groundless and at the same time perfectly predictable. There is no objective basis for such actions or statements whatsoever," Mykhailo Podolyak explained.
He stressed that Ukraine, as well as the intermediaries Turkey and the UN, strictly adhere to the obligations they have undertaken within the framework of the Grain Initiative.
He believes that today russia is frantically trying to find a new reason for another information campaign calling for the lifting of sanctions, pressing the UN and recipient countries to take at least a bit more pro-russian position.
Ukraine's grain exports from the ports of Big Odesa in August reached 1.72 mln t.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that 28.6 thou. t of Ukrainian wheat will be delivered to Somalia in the coming weeks.
