Russia agreed on Monday to extend the landmark deal that allows Ukrainian grain exports to pass through the blockaded Black Sea, but only for another 60 days, drawing an immediate challenge from Kyiv which said it would stick to a 120-day extension.
After talks with UN officials, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said in a statement issued by the Russian mission to Geneva that Russia does not object to the next extension of the ‘Black Sea Initiative’ but only for 60 days after the expiry of the second term on March 18.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko confirmed the 60-day extension on Tuesday, pointing out, however, that Russia remains unhappy with the failure to secure the lifting of Western restrictions on its own food and fertilizer trade.
Although the sanctions do not explicitly target Russian agricultural exports, sanctions on its payments, logistics, and insurance industries have created a barrier to the export of its grains and fertilizers.
Russian authorities claim that the Russian grain producers are effectively barred by the restrictions from using sea merchants to sell goods on the global market, so the deal includes the UN’s commitment to pressure Western nations to lift some of the economic sanctions against Moscow.
Moscow argues that it would be reasonable to expect those restrictions to be eliminated since the facilitation of Ukrainian trade was touted as a way to address spiking global food prices.
Russian authorities, which have long criticized the way the grain deal has been implemented, claim that while low-income countries in Africa and Asia are barred from importing Russian grain and fertilizers due to Western sanctions, the ‘Black Sea Initiative’ largely failed to benefit the most vulnerable nations, with most Ukrainian produce being used to feed livestock in Europe.
After previously announcing it will strictly stick to the terms of the previously agreed deal, Kyiv, on the other hand, stressed that Russia’s proposal for 60 day- extension goes against the agreement between the two countries.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksander Kubrakov pointed out that the original agreement under the Black Sea grain deal foresees a 120-day extension.
Reiterating that a 60-day extension contradicts the deal signed by guarantors Turkey and the UN, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, however, did not reject the proposal.
Following the talks in New York, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric only said that the US is doing everything to preserve the integrity and ensure the continuity of the agreement, without expressing an official position towards the Russian proposal.
