Photo: Libkos/AP Photo/Picture Alliance/Deutsche Welle
“Unfortunately, at this time it is impossible to resume that agreement, because it is not fulfilled,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said in his daily telephone press conference.
He added that, indeed, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, introduced him again to Russian President Vladimir Putin, “a kind of plan of actions and the promise that the Russian part can ever be fulfilledof the agreement.
“President Putin has clearly said that Russia is ready to immediately resume the agreement as soon as (the Russian side) is fulfilled,” Peskov stressed.
Moscow calls for the reconnection of the Russian agricultural bank, Rosseljozbank, to SWIFT; the lifting of sanctions on spare parts for agricultural machinery; the unblocking of logistics and transport insurance; the unfreezing of assets and the resumption of operation of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, which exploded on June 5.
Alleged Russian sabotage report
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) published an alleged internal Russian official report detailing the sabotage measures that prevented up to 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain from leaving the Black Sea during the year that the so-called grain agreement lasted.
According to the GUR, the main objective of the “Joint Coordination Center” established by Russia to implement this agreement reached in July last year by Moscow with the UN and Turkey was reduce as much as possible the export of Ukrainian grain through the corridor provided for in the agreement itself.
This objective, Ukrainian intelligence claims, was achieved by Russia’s blocking of the inspections provided for by the agreement on ships preparing to enter the Black Sea to load Ukrainian grain.
Sources from the Ukrainian port Pivdeni, one of the three from which Russia undertook to allow the export of grain under the agreement, have repeatedly denounced in recent months the sometimes total blockade imposed by Moscow through inspections.
“The document demonstrates that all actions to sabotage the Grain Agreement were part of a single plan developed in advance, and the targeted shelling of Ukraine’s port infrastructure is just another step in its execution,” says the GUR about Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports in recent days.
Broken agreement and shelling of Ukrainian ports
The UN Secretary General urged Russia on Monday to resume the Black Sea Initiative, “essential to guarantee stability in supply and prices.”
“I call on the Russian Federation to resume the implementation of the Black Sea agreements and I urge the world community to remain united in this effort to find effective solutions,” Guterres said during the opening of the United Nations Summit on Food Systems +2 in Rome.
Last Monday, July 17, Moscow suspended the agreement for the export of grain through the Black Sea from Ukrainian ports.initially signed in July 2022 with the mediation of Turkey and the UN.
Russia has been attacking the Ukrainian ports in the Odessa region almost daily since last Tuesday, and especially the terminals dedicated to the export of grain. The Russians have also bombed other agricultural infrastructure in other parts of Ukraine.
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