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Former Grain Deal News Roundup for September 19th, 2023
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.Borrell saw no chance of resuming the grain deal [Regnum] EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell does not see the possibility of reaching agreements with Russia on a grain deal. The head of European diplomacy announced this on September 19 at a press conference in New York. Borrell announced the impossibility of resuming the grain deal “Frankly, I don’t think it’s a question of conditions or the lifting of any restrictions or sanctions,” Borrell explained. According to him, Western sanctions do not affect the export of food and fertilizers. Borrell added that he is sincerely convinced that there is no possibility of reaching an agreement with Russia, since, according to him, Moscow does not want to continue the deal. He also urged not to look for excuses and “false arguments” in this matter. As Regnum reported , the grain deal between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN was valid from July 22, 2022. Moscow has repeatedly stated that there are no grounds for further extension of the deal, since none of the promises made by Russia at the conclusion of the agreement were ever fulfilled, and Kiev used sea corridors to prepare terrorist attacks. On July 17, the Kremlin announced the suspension of Russia's participation in the grain deal. At the end of August, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with “concrete proposals” for renewing the grain deal. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, said that the last four UN proposals on the grain deal do not contain anything new. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on September 10 that Russia should not be excluded from grain agreements due to the risk of rising tensions. He also called on G20 leaders to meet Russia's demands to resume the grain deal. Erdogan proposed facilitating the insurance of Russian exports of food and fertilizers by Lloyd's of London, as well as reconnecting Russia to the SWIFT system for making international payments. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said on September 12 that the grain deal is currently “on hold.” In turn, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that it is time for the United States to stop spreading empty insinuations and move on to actually removing barriers to resuming the grain deal. More from regnum.ru Slovakia called Ukraine's grain lawsuit at the WTO the height of impudence Ukraine’s filing of a lawsuit against Slovakia with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over a ban on the export of Ukrainian grain was the height of Kiev’s arrogance and confirms the failure of this country as a partner, ex-Prime Minister of Slovakia, head of the opposition party Smer Robert Fico said on September 19. “Ukraine’s complaint against Slovakia for the ban on the export of agricultural products is the height of arrogance and another confirmation of what a frivolous partner Ukraine really is,” he wrote on Facebook (owned by the Meta company, which is recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation). He added that under the current government, Slovakia lost its independence and emptied its warehouses, supplying Ukraine at its first request. Now Kyiv has shown “gratitude” to Bratislava, the politician noted. As Regnum reported, the Minister of Agriculture of Slovakia, Josef Bires , said on September 18 that Bratislava is ready to defend the ban on the import of grain from Ukraine in the WTO. He emphasized that the republic’s authorities will seek control over Ukrainian imports. Kiev also filed similar lawsuits against Poland and Hungary after the European Commission did not extend the embargo on Ukrainian grain supplies to the EU on September 15, and Bratislava, Warsaw and Budapest introduced their own restrictions. Bulgaria also initially advocated restricting the import of cheap Ukrainian grain, but lifted the ban on September 14. Posted by: badanov 2023-09-20 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=679033 |