(VOVWORLD) - Russia is ready to return to the grain deal immediately if all previously agreed-upon conditions for its participation in the initiative are met and the arrangement's "original humanitarian essence" is restored, President Vladimir Putin said.
Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova (Photo: aa.com.tr)
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During a meeting with government officials on Wednesday, Putin said Western countries entirely twisted the essence of the grain deal, resulting in profits for European companies and losses for Russian businesses.
Moscow's conditions include lifting sanctions on Russian grain and fertilizer deliveries, removing all obstacles for Russian banks, resuming deliveries of components and spare parts for agricultural machinery and fertilizer production to Russia, resolving all issues with ship chartering and insurance of Russian food exports, resuming operations of the Toglyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, unblocking Russian agricultural assets, and restoring the grain deal's original humanitarian intent.
The UN has three months to fulfill the memorandum signed with Russia on the export of Russian grains and fertilizers, said spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, who added that Moscow will return to discussing the grain deal only if there are concrete results on the implementation of the memorandum.
Russia warned that from Thursday any ships traveling to Ukraine's Black Sea ports will be viewed as possibly carrying military cargoes, and the flag countries of such ships will be considered parties to the Ukrainian conflict. It said Russia is declaring southeastern and northwestern parts of the Black Sea's international waters temporarily unsafe for navigation.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Wednesday that Russia's exit "worsens the food security outlook and risks adding to global food inflation, especially for low-income countries."
Five European Union countries, including Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania, on Wednesday proposed extending the ban on Ukraine's grain imports, which is scheduled to end on September 15th. If the European Commission does not extend the ban, these countries said they will do it themselves to protect their agricultural sectors.