MOSCOW. July 21 (Interfax) - The Russian side is considering all possibilities for supplying grain and fertilizers to the global market, but the conditions stated by Moscow earlier need to be fulfilled in order for this to happen, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said on Friday.
He was asked at a briefing whether a new grain deal could be signed in the foreseeable future, but this time between Russia and Turkey.
"The format you've proposed is acceptable and possible only after the conditions the president spoke about are met. If they are met, we are ready to consider any options," Vershinin said.
"We are ready to consider various options for further supplies of grain to the global market, grain and fertilizers. We have very close cooperation with Turkey, traditional interaction, and we are also in contact with them now, [we are] discussing what to do in this situation," Vershinin said.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022. Two documents - on creating a corridor to transport grain from three Ukrainian ports (Chernomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhny) and on removing barriers to exporting Russian food and fertilizers - were signed with the participation of the UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. The initiative was extended in November 2022 for 120 days until March, and then extended twice more, for two months. It expired on July 17.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on July 17 that the Russian side had sent Ankara, Kiev and the UN its objections to extending the grain deal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the government on July 19 that Russia was not against the grain deal, and was ready to go back to it as soon as all the main conditions of the Russian side that had not been fulfilled by the time the deadline expired on July 17 were fulfilled.
Among those conditions, Putin mentioned lifting sanctions on the supply of Russian grain and fertilizers to the global market, as well as the removal of obstacles to Russian banks and financial institutions that provide services for the supply of food and fertilizers.
"In particular, we are talking about immediately reconnecting [Russian banks] to the SWIFT international bank transactions system. We don't need some promises about it and some 'ideas', we need the fulfillment of these conditions," Putin said, recalling the proposals to connect a subsidiary to SWIFT which would be created specially for these purposes, and not the Russian Agricultural Bank itself, which Moscow declined.
He also mentioned resuming the supply of parts for agricultural equipment and the fertilizer production sector to Russia, resolving issues with chartering vessels and insuring Russian food exports, food supply logistics, and "a barrier-free environment for the expansion of supplies of Russian fertilizers and raw materials for their production". Among other things, Putin said the work of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia line needed to be restored and Russian assets needed to be unfrozen.
"Finally, Russia's basic condition of the return to the deal is the restoration of its initial humanitarian nature," he said.
"As soon as they [the aforementioned conditions] are fulfilled, we will immediately return to this deal," the president said.