UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is still waiting for a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin on a proposal to extend a deal allowing the export of Ukrainian grain through Black Sea ports as a deadline for an extension of the deal looms.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on July 14 that Guterres is waiting for a response to a letter that he wrote to Putin earlier this week including his proposal.
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Dujarric said discussions are being held, including messages exchanged on WhatsApp and Signal, as Moscow again threatens to walk away from the deal, saying its demands have not been met.
Guterres wrote to Putin on July 11 asking him to extend the Black Sea deal in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia's Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the international payment system SWIFT, sources told Reuters.
One of Russia's demands is the reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT. It was cut off by the EU in June 2022 over Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
According to TASS, Putin said he had not seen the letter from Guterres, but Russia has been in contact with UN officials.
The deal, formally known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, allows the safe export of grain and fertilizers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports. It was brokered by the UN and Turkey last year to help alleviate a global food crisis worsened by Moscow's invasion and blockade of the ports.
Much of the 32 million metric tons of corn, wheat, and other grains exported by Ukraine under the arrangement has gone to feed people in developing countries in Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere. If the exports were again blocked, food prices could spiral even higher than they are now.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov neither confirmed nor denied a statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicating he and Putin were in agreement on the extension of the deal.
"We are preparing to welcome Putin in August and we agree on the extension of the Black Sea grain corridor," Erdogan told reporters.
But Peskov said there had been “no statement about this from the Russian side."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed for Russia to extend and expand the Black Sea deal, accusing Russia of using the agreement "as a weapon" by threatening to end it.
"If Russia is not going to end its horrific war of aggression against Ukraine, at the very least it could extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative so that these food products can get out to the world, keeping prices down, keeping supply up," Blinken told a news conference in Jakarta.
"If Moscow follows through on its threat, developing countries including in the region will pay the price including quite literally with higher food prices, as well as greater food scarcity," Blinken told reporters after talks in the Southeast Asian country.
Moscow has insisted from the start that in exchange for its cooperation it wants obstacles to exports of Russia's own food and fertilizer lifted.
While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics, and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.