A new round of consultations will be held in Geneva – today, Friday – between Russia and the United Nations regarding the grain agreement, after the Kremlin’s statement about the negative impact that the explosion of an ammonia pipeline will have on the negotiations.
RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russia’s ambassador to Turkey as saying that Moscow is continuing consultations on the grain agreement, but there are no reasons to renew it, he said.
Meanwhile, British intelligence said that Russia continues to impede grain exports by deliberately slowing down inspections and obstructing some ships, she said.
And she added – in her tweet – that Russia is examining only one or two ships per day, compared to between 6 and 8 ships last year.
The agreement was concluded in July 2022 between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by the United Nations and Turkey, and was renewed last May for a period of two months after intensive negotiations, and Moscow demanded compliance with a parallel agreement regarding its exports of agricultural products and fertilizers. The agreement will expire next month if Russia refuses to renew it.
Yesterday, Thursday, the Kremlin warned that the explosion in a major ammonia pipeline would have a negative impact on talks to renew the Ukrainian grain export agreement through the Black Sea.
Russia had been calling for the resumption of the operation of the pipeline, which has been suspended since February 2022, in the context of negotiations with the United Nations regarding the extension of the agreement, which allowed the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain.
Moscow held a “Ukrainian sabotage group” responsible for the bombing of the ammonia pipeline linking the Russian city of Tolyatti and the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
For its part, Kiev rejected Moscow’s accusations, and said that Russian forces were responsible for the incident in northeastern Ukraine.
