EU declares 'catastrophic consequences' of non-renewal of grain deal

Brussels will regret if the grain deal is not extended, RBC was told at the EU Delegation to Russia. it was extended on March 17 for 60 days, so the agreement expires on May 18, unless the parties agree on a new extension.

“We can expect catastrophic consequences if the grain deal is not extended, since both Ukraine and Russia are systemic players on a global scale,” the EU Delegation to Russia said, noting that Brussels “will regret if the grain deal is not extended.” ".

The representative office said that "Russia is putting forward new and complex conditions for the extension of the grain deal, often not related to the goals of the agreement." As an example, they cited the EXPORT of spare parts for agricultural machinery from the EU to Russia.

The grain agreement between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN (the last two as mediators) was signed last July. Part of the agreements (“Black Sea Grain Initiative”) concerned the export of grain from Ukraine, the other (a memorandum of understanding between Russia and the UN) was the removal of obstacles to the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers. The contract expired on November 18 last year and was automatically extended for 120 days, until March 18. Then the deal was extended for another 60 days, until May 18.

Since the conclusion of the grain deal, Moscow has repeatedly stated that it insists on fulfilling the conditions regarding the supply of Russian fertilizers, indicating that this part of the deal is not being fulfilled. Nevertheless, in mid-March, Russia agreed to its extension. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov explained this step as a "goodwill gesture" from Moscow. On April 17, Peskov said that the situation with the improvement of the state of affairs on the implementation of the second part of the grain deal, which provides for the export of Russian fertilizers, "does not tend to improve."

The Russian Foreign Ministry named five systemic problems, "without the solution of which there is no need to talk about the further extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative after May 18." Among them, the agency listed the reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT; resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and service; the abolition of restrictions on insurance and reinsurance, plus the lifting of the ban on access to ports; restoration of the work of the ammonia pipeline Tolyatti - Odessa; unblocking foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies associated with the production and transportation of food and fertilizers.

Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya warned that in the two months for which the deal was extended, the West should “with the assistance of the UN, withdraw from its sanctions the entire chain of operations accompanying Russian agricultural exports.” The further fate of the agreement will depend on this, he stressed.