Vershinin: Russia considers amendments should be made to Grain agreement

“Russia considers that amendments should be made to Grain agreement to provide countries in need with food,” said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin in his statement regarding the finals of political consultations held between Russian Federation and Turkey in Istanbul.

According to him, political consultations were beneficial.

“US and partners in the EU should move from statements to real action to eliminate restrictions imposed on the export of agriculture products from Russia. Russia will continue to work with the UN representatives to ensure food security in the world,” the Russian diplomat stressed.

“The issue concerns reconnecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT and the provision of insurance and financial transactions that cover agricultural exports from Russia. We will continue to work with UN representatives to ensure that the memorandum is being realized and is producing concrete results within the goals, which created the basis of this initiative: to ensure food security in the world, specifically in the poorest countries,” he said

The deputy foreign minister also said that Moscow has not yet received any concrete results of the second part of the package, which presupposed unhampered access and exports of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers.

On July 22, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations struck a deal to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that most of the ships carrying Ukrainian grain did not make it to the world’s poorest countries and ended up in Europe. Putin has also voiced his concerns that Russian products are not entering the global markets as promised by the agreement.

The grain deal, originally scheduled to expire on November 18, has been extended for another 120 days on November 17.

Source: Sputnik

Edited by Hamda Mustafa