The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, announced, on June 2, progress in the negotiations on the unblocking of the export of Ukrainian wheat as well as on the removal of obstacles to access to food resources and fertilizers. Russians in world markets.
As reported by the Russian business daily Kommersant, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, and Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), Rebeca Grynspan, are working on a comprehensive agreement including “secure export of Ukrainian grain by sea and access to Russian products and fertilizers on world markets, especially for developing countries”.
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Kyiv says it’s “the blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports and the Russian takeover of the Sea of Azov coastline which prevent Ukraine from exporting 22 million tons of grain”, recall the title. Moscow rejects these accusations and points out that the Russian military regularly tries to open “humanitarian corridors” to let the freighters out.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 70 ships from 16 countries are currently docked in the ports of Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhny. “The risk of firing from Ukrainian forces and the presence of a large quantity of mines in the surrounding waters do not allow the ships to safely exit the high seas”, says the Russian body.
First stage of the negotiations, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, went on Wednesday June 8 to Ankara, which maintains diplomatic relations with both kyiv and Moscow. “Ukraine does not want to see Russian ships in the port of Odessa, while Russia refuses the arrival in this port of foreign ships likely to bring weapons to Ukraine. It is therefore necessary to agree on a resolution which grants guarantees to both parties”, explained Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu.
The idea is to create a “wheat corridor” in the Black Sea to allow exports, a plan to which the Russian representative said he was in favor, reports the Turkish daily Haberturk : “We are ready to open this corridor, the ball is in the court of the Ukrainians. But [le président ukrainien Volodymyr] Zelensky categorically refuses to clear the ports.”
The export of Ukrainian cereals being under negotiation, remains the file of Russian exports. Cargo ships from Russia, another major world producer, are indeed turned away from European ports. If Russian wheat does not fall directly under international sanctions, this is not the case for the logistics and financial chains linked to the delivery of cereals on world markets, Sergei Lavrov recalled. His Turkish counterpart pleaded for the “lifting of sanctions against Russia, in particular financial ones”, that hinder these exports.
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At the same time, Alexander Lukashenko declared to Antonio Guterres on June 5 that he was ready to open his territory for the transfer of Ukrainian foodstuffs to the ports of the Baltic. In exchange for which the ports concerned should accept Belarusian goods, which amounts to a partial lifting of sanctions against Belarus, writes the Russian daily Nezavissimaïa Gazeta. The UN Secretary General has asked for a few days to consult with the actors concerned.