Russia’s Foreign Ministry Demands UN Implementation

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Moscow would return to the grain deal if the United Nations implements the terms of the agreement to facilitate Russian agricultural exports if the global body wants to resume talks on the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Reasons for Halting Participation

On Monday, Russia said it was halting participation in a year-old U.N.-brokered deal that let Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea, complaining that promises to facilitate its own shipments of food and fertilizers had not been kept.

The Black Sea Deal and its Purpose

The Black Sea deal was brokered by the U.N. and Türkiye in July last year to help combat a global food crisis and overcome additional obstacles thrown up after Russia sent troops into Ukraine.

Kyiv and Moscow are among the world’s top grain exporters.

Termination of Related Pact

Russia’s withdrawal meant that the related pact to assist its own grain and fertilizer exports was also terminated, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres signaled at the time.

Onus on the United Nations

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the onus was now on the United Nations to implement the Russian deal if it wanted Moscow to return to wider talks about it helping revive Ukrainian exports.

“The Russia-United Nations Memorandum itself states, and I’ll quote…that the agreement will be in force for three years, and in case one of the parties intends to terminate it (either Russia or the U.N.), it must give three months’ notice. We have given notice,” Zakharova told Radio Sputnik on Wednesday.

“Accordingly, the UN still has three months to achieve concrete results. Therefore, people should not run to the microphones at the UN Secretariat, but use these three months to achieve concrete results. If there are concrete results, we will return to the discussion of this (wider) issue.”