Africa-Press – Gambia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously said that Russia does not see any real grounds for the extension of the initiative which is coming to an end in a few weeks.
The possible termination of the Black Sea grain deal will not affect African countries, Arkady Zlochevsky, president of the Russian Grain Union, has told.
“In no way. Not at all,” the head said when asked how its non-extension could impact African nations.
According to Zlochevsky, Russia’s grain supplies to African countries “in no way” depend on the implementation of the Ukrainian deal.
“If it [the deal] will be or will not be there, we will provide our volumes anyway. And the president [Vladimir Putin] also said that we will give some volume for free,” Zlochevsky pointed out. “Ukraine did not deliver to these countries; they were always traditionally supplied by Russia.”
The director added that during the last month and a half the volume of overland shipments of Ukrainian grain dropped from 52,000 tons to 22,500 tons, but “no one noticed any impact at all on the world market and African countries in particular.”
The official attributed the decrease in the volume of Ukrainian grain to the fact that five countries refused to allow it on their territory.
Apart from that, the director noted that Ukraine concentrates mainly on the supply of fodder crops, which does not go to people, but rather to feed animals.
“So what if this deal stops? In fact, the volumes there, in terms of losses, if any, will be quite comparable to those volumes that have already fallen out due to overland restrictions on Ukrainian grain,” Zlochevsky concluded.
In late June, Russian top diplomat Sergey Lavrov said that Russia saw no reason to extend the grain deal, pointing out that the world’s poorest countries received just little bit less than 2.5% of the grain under the Black Sea grain deal.
Lavrov remarked that if the deal is not extended, Russia will provide the poorest countries with the necessary amount of grain at its own expense.
On July 22, 2022, Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye and the United Nations agreed to grant a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships exporting food and fertilizers from Ukrainian ports of the Black Sea.
On May 18 this year, Russia extended the agreement for 60 days, until July 17.
The deal is part of a package agreement. The second part, a three-year Russia-UN memorandum, envisages unblocking Russian food and fertilizer exports, reconnecting the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT, resuming supplies of agricultural equipment, spare parts and services, restoring the ammonia pipeline Togliatti – Odessa and a number of other measures.
Moscow has repeatedly lamented that this part of the package deal has still not been fulfilled.
In particular, Lavrov noted that part of the “package” on Russian ammonia is not valid.
He added that there is still no progress in the implementation of the Russia-UN Memorandum designed to ensure that Russian agricultural products and fertilizers are actually removed from illegal unilateral Western sanctions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in turn, noted that Russia was “once again deceived” in the situation with the grain deal since the West has done nothing for the export of Russian grain.
The president listed that the deal included such conditions for Russia as freight, insurance, payments, and the connection of Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT system, which was not done.
SPUTNIK
For More News And Analysis About Gambia Follow Africa-Press
