UN Secretary-General urges Putin to salvage Black Sea grain deal
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed regret over Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, calling on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to preserve the agreement, Guterres said at a press briefing on July 17.
He clarified that he had written a letter to Putin asking him to maintain the grain agreement.
"In this letter, which I consider it necessary to quote, I emphasize that, I quote, 'since the signing of the memorandum of understanding, as well as taking into account the measures taken by the Russian Federation, Russian grain trade, as well as export volumes and fertilizer markets, have been stabilizing. Russian exports are approaching full recovery, as stated by the Russian Grain Exporters Union and the Russian Fertilizer Producers Association," said Guterres.
Guterres also said that the UN offered Russia an alternative to SWIFT to facilitate international payments.
"We have created an individual payment mechanism for the Russian Agricultural Bank through JPMorgan, outside of SWIFT," he concluded.
Since June 27, Russia has not registered any new ships under the grain agreement, effectively sabotaging the operation of the “grain corridor.”
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, mediated by the UN and Turkey in July 2022, allowed for three Ukrainian ports to resume exporting agricultural produce.
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