The European Union (EU) is planning to set a proposal for the Russian Agricultural Bank to form a subsidiary aimed to reconnect to the global financial network as a sop to Moscow.
The Financial Times reported on Monday that the move aims to safeguard the Black Sea grain deal that allows Ukraine to export food to the global market.
Last week, Russia highlighted that it did not find a reason to extend the grain deal beyond July 17 because the West had acted in an “outrageous” way over the agreement. However, it assured poor countries that Russian grain exports would continue.
Proposed through UN-brokered talks, Moscow’s plan would let the bank unit handle payments related to grain exports.
Meanwhile, the new unit would deploy the SWIFT global financial messaging system, which was closed to the largest Russian banks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Following the reported news, Ukraine’s foreign ministry ambassador at large, Olha Trofimtseva, said the EU wanted “to somehow facilitate the grain deal”.
“On the one hand, any opportunities for agricultural exports are good. On the other hand, making concessions to a blackmailer means encouraging him to continue blackmailing,” Trofimtseva wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“It is a well-known axiom: a blackmailer does not stop if you fulfill his demands. He just comes up with new demands.”
