60-day extension of wartime grain deal acceptable – Russia

GENEVA (AP):

A Russian delegation at talks with senior UN officials said Monday that Moscow is ready to accept an extension to a grain export deal that has helped bring down global food prices amid the war with Ukraine – but only for 60 days as the Kremlin holds out for changes to how the arrangement is working.

The United Nations said in a statement that it “notes” the Russian announcement about the extension and reaffirmed its support for the deal struck in July as “part of the global response to the most severe cost-of-living crisis in a generation.”

The UN and Turkey brokered the deal between the two warring countries that allows Ukraine – one of the world’s key breadbaskets – to ship food and fertiliser from three of its Black Sea ports.

The 120-day agreement, which helped take some of the sting out of rising global food prices, was renewed last November. That extension expires on Saturday, and another 120-day extension was on the table. Ukraine charged Monday that the Russian proposal to extend it only for 60 days goes against the original agreement.

“The UN Secretary-General has confirmed that the UN will do everything possible to preserve the integrity of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and ensure its continuity,” the UN statement said. It stressed that the deal had paved the way for the export of 24 million tons of grain and more than 1,600 trips by vessels through the Black Sea – with more than half of the exports destined for developing countries.

Moscow has been frustrated that a parallel deal to allow exports of Russian food and fertiliser, which is used across the globe, has only resulted in a trickle of Russian fertilizer getting out and no Russian grain at all.

“The comprehensive and frank conversation has once again confirmed that while the commercial export of Ukrainian products is carried out at a steady pace, bringing considerable profits to Kiev, restrictions on the Russian agricultural exporters are still in place,” the Russian delegation said in a statement.

“The sanctions exemptions for food and fertilisers announced by Washington, Brussels and London are essentially inactive,” it claimed.

As part of the arrangement, Moscow wants Russian ammonia to be fed through a pipeline across Ukraine to reach Black Sea ports for possible export. Russian officials also say banking restrictions and high insurance costs have hurt their hopes of exporting fertiliser.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov argued that “Russia’s position to extend the deal only for 60 days contradicts the document” envisaging an extension of at least 120 days. He said on Twitter that Ukraine was waiting for the official position of the United Nations and Turkey as the guarantors of the initiative.

Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN humanitarian agency, hosted a team led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin at UN offices in Geneva.

A lot is at stake: Ukraine and Russia are key global suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food to countries in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia where millions of people don’t have enough to eat. Russia was also the world’s top exporter of fertiliser before the war.

The loss of those supplies, after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, drove global food prices higher and fuelled concerns of a hunger crisis in poorer countries.

The so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative involves seaborne checks of cargo by UN, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials to ensure that only foodstuffs – not weapons – are being transported.

The amount of grain leaving Ukraine has dropped even as the deal works to keep food flowing. Inspections of ships under the grain initiative have fallen sharply since they got rolling in earnest in September, and vessels have been backed up.

Western critics accuse Russia of dragging its heels on inspections. Moscow denies that.