Russia, UN Set To Renew Talks Over Ukraine Grain Deal

Russia and the United Nations are set to renew talks over the Ukraine grain deal on Monday despite Moscow's doubts that the agreement would not be fruitful.

The UN said that the fate of millions of people lay in the extension of the grain export agreement. When Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, it blocked Ukraine's Black Sea ports with warships until a deal signed in July last year allowed for the safe passage of exports carrying critical grain supplies.

Renewal of Ukraine Grain Deal Talks

Under the UN and Turkey-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), more than 23.7 million tons of grain were exported. The deal has helped reduce the effects of the global food crisis caused by Russia's war on Ukraine. It is set to automatically renew on Mar. 18 unless Moscow or Kyiv moves to object to the agreement.

However, on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the grain export deal extension was becoming "complicated." He argued that other global powers should have respected a parallel agreement on Russian exports, as per The Moscow Times.

The BSGI is related to the export of Ukrainian grain, while the second deal, which was made between Moscow and the UN, seeks to facilitate the export of Russian food and fertilizers. These are exempt from Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

During a press conference held in Moscow, Lavrov said that if the package was half fulfilled, then the issue of an extension would become complicated. The Russian official added that their Western colleagues, specifically the United States and the European Union, declared that there were no sanctions that apply to food and fertilizers, where he called it dishonest.

Lavrov argued that the Western sanctions prevent Russian ships from carrying grain and fertilizers from entering ports. He added that the sanctions also prohibit foreign ships from entering Russian ports to pick up essential cargo.

Global Food Crisis

The Russian foreign minister's remarks came a day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres traveled to Kyiv to shore up support for the grain deal. After meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, Guterres thanked him for the welcome despite the "difficult circumstances," according to CBS News.

Turkish and UN representatives have been meeting in an attempt to keep the flow of grain exports continuing. The agreement was initially set up in July 2022 as part of officials' attempt to free up roughly 20 million tons of grain stored inside silos, ships, and other storage facilities in Ukraine that could not be shipped out.

Global food prices soared, which placed humanitarian aid efforts worldwide at risk due to the blockage of Ukraine's ports and sanctions preventing Russia from exporting grains and fertilizer.

While the West has not specifically targeted Russia's agricultural exports, Moscow argued that sanctions on its payments, logistics, and insurance industries had hindered its ability to export its supplies of grains and fertilizers, said Reuters.