Moscow will ‘consider’ returning to grain deal if all conditions met, says Putin

Moscow [Russia]: Slamming the West over the “failure to comply” with Moscow’s demands to extend the UN-brokered Black Sea Grain initiative, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country would ‘consider’ returning to the deal if all the conditions are met, CNN reported.

“Just outright arrogance and impudence. Promises and empty chatter. And they only compromised themselves with this,” Putin said during a remote meeting with the members of the government broadcast on Wednesday. “The authority was undermined, among other things, of the leadership of the UN secretariat, which actually acted as a guarantor of the grain deal,” CNN reported Putin as saying.

He further claimed that Moscow had shown “miracles of endurance and tolerance,” by continuously extending the deal in the past.

“The West has done everything to derail the grain deal, they have not spared their efforts,” he said, alleging that Moscow was obstructed from donating fertilizers to the poorest countries.

Putin also said Moscow would consider the possibility of returning to the deal if all the principles in it, without exception, are taken into account and implemented, CNN reported.

“The continuation of the grain deal in the form in which it existed has lost all meaning. That is why we objected to the further extension of this so-called deal,” he said.
“All obstacles must be removed for Russian banks, financial institutions that aid the supply of food and fertilizers. This includes their immediate connection to the SWIFT international banking settlement system,” CNN quoted Putin as saying.

“We don’t need promises and ideas in this regard. We need the fulfilment of these conditions,” he added.

Earlier on Monday, Russia announced it was suspending its participation in a UN-brokered deal that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain. The agreement, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022, was scheduled to expire at 5 pm ET.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced that Moscow will not renew the agreement, saying it “has been terminated.” The deal had allowed Ukraine to export grain by sea, as per the CNN report.

In withdrawing from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that its government was removing guarantees for safe navigation in the Black Sea, according to CNN.