Russia refused to coordinate the movement of four ships in and out of Ukrainian ports under the terms of a grain deal that has been in place since last summer, the Ukrainian Navy said on April 26, in an apparent further complication of efforts to extend the deal.
One of the four ships was chartered by the World Food Program to deliver wheat to Ethiopia, said a Ukrainian Navy statement posted on Facebook.
Russian representatives in the Joint Coordination Center set up in Istanbul under the Black Sea Grain Initiative refused to agree on the movement of vessels to or from the seaports of Ukraine, the statement said.
As a result, three of the vessels, including the one destined for Ethiopia, were unable to leave the ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdenniy and must wait for their passage to be approved, while one vessel was forced to wait for transit to the port of Odesa in the area of Sulina.
The navy said Russia had effectively stalled the ships' movements by refusing to take part in agreeing on the routes they should take, a process that occurs for each export trip.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was brokered in July by the United Nations and Turkey with Russia and Ukraine to allow the safe passage of grain exports through Ukraine’s ports on the Black Sea.
The pact was renewed for 60 days last month, but Russia has signaled it may well not agree to extend it further unless the West removes obstacles to the exports of Russian grain and fertilizer.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on April 25 said the situation related to the grain deal had reached a deadlock. Lavrov said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is trying to negotiate with the countries that have announced unilateral sanctions against Russia, but there are no results.
Guterres has written a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin presenting a "way forward" on extending and improving the grain deal, the secretary-general's office said on April 24 after he met with Lavrov in New York.
During a briefing with UN correspondents on April 26, Gennady Gatilov, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said Moscow appreciated the UN's efforts and believed the UN was trying its best.
"But what we hear until now is only promises," he added.
Moscow says Western sanctions on its payments, logistics, and insurance industries have created a barrier to the export of its grains and fertilizers. Russia has made the claims even though Russian agricultural exports have not been explicitly targeted by Western restrictions.
"The Ukrainian part of the deal is working well," Gatilov said. "But the Russian part of this deal is not working, and these two parts should be equal. This is not the case."
One of Russia's main demands is the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT payments system. The bank is one of many disconnected from the system more than a year ago as a sanction imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine.
"The UN acknowledges that there are problems that should be resolved," Gatilov said, adding that the world body was in discussions with Washington, Brussels, and others. "I don't know whether they will be able to achieve sufficient progress in the time left."
The UN and many countries expressed alarm when Ukraine's ports were blocked after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, saying it could lead to global consequences, including famine in poorer countries. The Black Sea Grain Initiative eased those concerns, but its latest extension runs out on May 18.