Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has cast doubt on the future of a UN-backed grain deal, saying there is “much work to be done” before the deal can be renewed this month next.
The agreement has allowed Ukraine, one of the world’s largest wheat producers, to export grain from its Black Sea ports since early August.
Lavrov said Moscow wanted the UN to provide evidence that the exports, which must pass through a control center in Istanbul, are headed to the world’s poorest countries. Speaking during a joint press conference with the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Moscow on Monday, he said he had asked the UN for data on the grain’s final destinations.
Lavrov said Russia understands that the poorest nations receive only 5 to 7 percent of exported grain, while the rest goes to the European Union.
“The European countries give the following explanation: they say yes, we receive most of the Ukrainian grain, but then this grain is distributed all over the world, even to the poorest countries. I would like to have a clearer picture, so we asked the UN secretariat who is involved in this operation, and who has all the data, to provide us with statistics on the movement of the grain to the final destination,” he said Lavrov.
The data requested from the UN will inform Russia’s decision on whether to remain in the grain deal, he added.
Lavrov also complained that the second part of the agreement, which deals with the supply of Russian food and fertilizers to the world market, is “practically not implemented.”
Lavrov argued that clear legal exemptions from sanctions were needed for Russian companies and guarantees for the free entry of Russian ships into European ports and of foreign ships into Russian ones. He said one of the key issues is the sanctions imposed against the Agricultural Bank of Russia, the main financial institution that handles the supply of fertilizers and grains to world markets.
“There is a lot of work. The deal expires in November. And we proceed from the fact that before the question of its extension is considered, all the mentioned problems will be satisfactorily resolved,” Lavrov said.