UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has offered Russian President Vladimir Putin to extend a deal to help secure grain exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea in exchange for linking a branch of the Russian Agricultural Bank to the international payments system SWIFT, Reuters reported. .
Russia has threatened to scrap a grain deal that expires on Monday after several requests to ship its own grain and fertilizer abroad have not been met.
As the company writes, The Kremlin’s main demand is to reconnect the Russian agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank to the international SWIFT payment network.. The bank was cut off by the EU after Russia invaded Ukraine in June 2022.
Now the EU is considering linking a subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT. In addition, Guterres proposed to Putin to allow the grain deal to continue for several months and give the EU time to connect the Roselcosbank branch to SWIFT.
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Grain Agreement
The agreement was negotiated by the UN and Turkey with Russia and Ukraine In July 2022 it was renewed for another 120 days in November. Its aim was to secure the export of grain from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea and to alleviate the food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
In May, we wrote that Russia complained that it could not export ammonia by pipeline to the port of Pivtenny in accordance with agreements with Turkey and the UN. Russia said in May it would not extend the deal beyond July 17 unless its demands for increased grain and fertilizer exports were met.