GENEVA (HRNW) – Moscow is suggesting to renew a deal allowing the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports but only for a period of 60 days, half the term of the previous renewal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said on Monday.
Vershinin’s statement came after talks with U.N. officials in Geneva.
The Black Sea grain initiative, brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the United Nations and Turkey last July, aimed to prevent a global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain blockaded by Russia’s invasion to be safely exported from three Ukrainian ports.
The deal, which was extended for 120 days in November, is up for renewal on Saturday.
In a statement after talks with U.N. trade official Rebeca Grynspan and aid chief Martin Griffiths, Vershinin said that despite a “comprehensive and frank conversation,” Russia noted that restrictions on its agricultural exporters remained.
Russia has argued that, although the country’s agricultural exports have not been explicitly targeted by the West, sanctions on its payments, logistics and insurance industries have created a barrier for it being able to export its own grains and fertilisers.