MOSCOW. Aug 31 (Interfax) - Russia will be prepared to reinstate the grain deal if it receives relevant guarantees, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"Everything has been boiled down to mere promises for the time being. Therefore, I can only reiterate that, as soon as there are guarantees of a concrete result that can be put into practice as early as tomorrow rather than mere promises, then the implementation of this package will also be resumed as early as tomorrow," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow following negotiations with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Lavrov said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informed him of his new initiatives at their recent meeting on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in Johannesburg, which was followed by a relevant message from him.
"We honestly told both the secretary-general and our Turkish friends that that message still did not provide a single guarantee. There are only promises to try harder and quicker. What counts most is that the West is blocking the resolution of problems obstructing more active shipments of Russian grain and Russian fertilizers. UN officials can't do anything on their own, they have to ask the West to display good reason and a constructive approach. The West doesn't want to do that," Lavrov said.
Lavrov also said Fidan and he discussed Russia's initiative on "arranging shipments of up to one million tonnes of Russian grain at a concessionary price to Turkey, so that it is processed at Turkish facilities and sent to countries that are most in need."
"This issue has also been discussed with our Qatari friends' involvement, who stand ready to join the financial aspects of this initiative," Lavrov said.