After Moscow withdrew last Monday from the agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain from its ports on the Black Sea, despite the war, to alleviate the global food crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Western countries.
The Kremlin leader confirmed that those countries distorted the grain agreement in the Black Sea to serve their own interests, explaining that a parallel memorandum of understanding was ignored, which aimed to facilitate Russian exports of grain and fertilizers in the face of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to the invasion of Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Nevertheless, Putin announced his country’s readiness to return immediately if all its conditions are met.
He also emphasized that the essence and meaning of the grain agreement had immense humanitarian importance, but the West completely weakened and distorted its essence.
Instead of genuinely assisting needy countries, the West used the grain agreement for political blackmail. In addition, it turned it into a tool for enriching multinational companies and speculators in the global grain market, according to his statement.
Putin reaffirmed Moscow’s position that it would return to the deal once the West meets its five main demands, which include the return of the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT system, the resumption of exports of agricultural machinery and spare parts to Russia, the lifting of restrictions on insurance and access of Russian ships and goods to ports, the restoration of the currently disrupted ammonia export pipeline from Russia’s Togliatti to Odessa in Ukraine, and the lifting of the ban on accounts and financial activities of Russian fertilizer companies.
It should be noted that the Russian Ministry of Defense announced after the expiration of the grain export agreement on Monday that Moscow would consider all ships heading to Ukrainian ports as potential carriers of military cargo.
The Russian Foreign Ministry granted the United Nations, which mediated the grain agreement alongside Turkey, three months to implement the memorandum’s provisions if it wants Russia to return to the grain agreement.
