The Foreign Ministry called the decision of the Russian Federation on the grain deal “cold shower” for the United States

Maria Zakharova.
© press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry / mid.ru

Russia’s decision to extend the grain deal for only 60 days is a “cold shower” for the US and the EU, which expected to continue to block Russian agricultural exports and freely export grain from Ukraine. This was announced on Tuesday by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, the message was published on the website of the Foreign Ministry.

As Parlamentskaya Gazeta wrote, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Grushko announced the extension of the grain deal for only 60 days, emphasizing its “package” nature.

In this regard, Zakharova noted that the Russian side recommends that representatives of Western states re-read the Istanbul agreements and statements by UN Secretary General António Guterres on the “package” nature of the initiative to export Ukrainian grain and promote Russian fertilizers and food to world markets.

“We understand that the decision taken in Moscow turned out to be a kind of “cold shower” for the Americans and the EU,” the diplomat stressed, noting that the West had no doubt that the unimpeded blocking of Russian agricultural exports would continue simultaneously with the increase in the export of Ukrainian grain.

In this regard, she also called hypocritical statements by the US and the EU that Russian agricultural exports are not subject to Western sanctions restrictions. In this regard, Zakharova recalled that there has been no progress in connecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, supplies of agricultural machinery and spare parts have not been resumed, restrictions on insurance have not been lifted, access to ports for Russian ships has not been opened, and the accounts of Russian companies operating in the field of fertilizers are all are still blocked.

“Without concrete progress in solving these systemic problems, all the oaths of Westerners about humanitarian exemptions from their sanctions, assurances of commitment to global food security and expressions of support for the efforts of the UN Secretary General are nothing more than deliberate cunning and outright lies,” the diplomat concluded.

In July 2022, two “package” agreements were signed – the “Black Sea Initiative” and a memorandum with the UN on the issue of normalizing agricultural exports from the Russian Federation. After that, the Russian side began to responsibly fulfill its obligations, and the Russian Ministry of Defense ensured a safe maritime humanitarian corridor. In total, about 750 ships used the maritime humanitarian corridor, which took out more than 21.5 million tons of food. The grain deal was later extended for another four months.

Read also:

• Foreign Ministry: Moscow is negative about the expansion of the grain deal