(Reuters) – Moscow on Thursday asked the United Nations (UN), which brokered a deal to release Ukraine’s grain shipments from a Russian blockade on its Black Sea ports, to help enforce its parts. of the agreement aimed at facilitating Russian food and fertilizer exports.
Russia on Wednesday resumed participation in the initiative after a four-day suspension, easing pressure on food prices and allaying fears of a new global food crisis.
The deal expires on November 19, and Moscow has made it clear that it wants to do more to ensure it can export its huge production of food and fertilizer, despite a barrage of Western sanctions imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
“We still don’t see results on a second aspect: removing obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and grains,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Amman, Jordan.
“We once again ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to ensure that he fulfills the obligations he has agreed to on his own initiative,” added Lavrov. He said the situation needs to be resolved “in the very near future”.
“If we are talking about the volumes of fertilizers and grains in question, these volumes on the Russian side are incomparably higher than on the Ukrainian side.”
Russian agricultural exports do not explicitly fall under sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and others, but Moscow says they are severely hampered by restrictions imposed on the financial, logistics and insurance sectors.
The initiative – brokered by Turkey and the United Nations – was agreed in July for 120 days.
Asked on Thursday whether Russia’s decision to return to the deal meant it was ready to agree to an extension, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, it doesn’t mean that.”
“You have to assess… how all aspects of the business are being implemented, all the parameters of the agreements, and then make a decision.”
(Report by Reuters)
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