UN Secretary-General wrote a letter to Putin asking him to return to the grain deal

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed regret over Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, calling on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to preserve the agreement.

During a briefing on Monday, July 17, he clarified that he had written a letter to Putin asking him to preserve the grain deal.

“In this letter, which I consider it necessary to quote, I emphasize that, quote, ‘since the signing of the memorandum of understanding, and taking into account the measures taken by the Russian Federation, Russian grain trade, as well as export volumes, and fertilizer markets are stabilizing. Russian exports are approaching full recovery, as stated by the Russian Union of Grain Exporters and the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers,” he added.

Guterres also said that the UN offers Russia an alternative to SWIFT.

“We have created a customized payment mechanism for the Russian Agricultural Bank through JPMorgan outside of SWIFT,” he concluded.

On July 17, Russia officially announced its withdrawal from the grain deal after the Crimean bridge was blown up.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine hopes to continue grain supplies through the Black Sea corridor without Russia.

Since June 27, Russia has not registered any new ships under the grain deal, effectively shutting down the grain corridor.

Russia has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the agreement, brokered by the UN and Turkey in July last year. The agreement has already been extended three times – in November 2022, and in March and May 2023.

Before the next extension on July 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry again threatened not to do so.

On the day the agreement expired, the Kremlin used the attack on the Crimean bridge as a pretext to withdraw from the agreement.

On July 14, a UN spokesperson said that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was waiting for a response from Vladimir Putin on the proposal to extend the agreement.

On the same day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Putin had agreed to extend the grain deal. The Kremlin denied this.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed under the mediation of the UN and Turkey last July, allowed three Ukrainian ports to be unblocked for food exports. The grain corridor was launched on August 1, 2022.

Tags: UN, Black Sea grain deal, Russia