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- Grain and doubts: the UN is once again talking about its readiness to integrate into the Black Sea initiative
Grain and doubts: the UN is once again talking about its readiness to integrate into the Black Sea initiative
The UN is ready to join the new Black Sea initiative. This was stated to Izvestia by the organization's secretariat. They added that the UN is in contact with the American side regarding the export of food and fertilizers. But you should not expect a special effect from connecting the structure. The UN played a key role in drafting the agreement in 2022, but was unable to achieve significant results — as a result, the grain deal was suspended. The Russian Federation and the United States are now trying to reach an agreement on reviving the agreements, but the European Union refuses to meet halfway on the issue of lifting sanctions.
What the UN has done for the grain deal
Following a meeting in Saudi Arabia on March 24, Russia and the United States agreed to resume the Black Sea initiative. We are talking about the so-called grain deal, which was concluded in July 2022 in Istanbul. It expired in July 2023 after Moscow refused to extend it.
Although the Black Sea initiative has not yet been revived, the United Nations has declared its readiness to participate in its implementation.
— Shortly after the conflict began, we began working on issues related to the export of food and fertilizers from Russia and Ukraine, as well as issues related to freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. The UN continues these efforts with all participants, including cooperation with the United States, providing them with information to advance these efforts. The UN remains available to support all efforts to achieve peace," Stephanie Tremblay, Deputy Official Representative of the UN Secretary General, told Izvestia.
The organization has never abandoned the Black Sea initiative, Vladimir Kuznetsov, director of the UN Information Center in Russia, told Izvestia. According to him, the UN team led by Rebecca Greenspan is conscientiously doing its job in terms of the memorandum, which is valid until July 2025.
At the same time, the possibility of the United Nations joining the renewed Black Sea initiative is not being discussed with Russia at the organization's site.
"We are not discussing anything on this topic with the UN," Dmitry Polyansky, First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the organization, told Izvestia.
The Black Sea Initiative of 2022 was of a package nature and consisted of two parts. The first concerned the safe transportation of grain and food from Ukrainian ports. These agreements were concluded between the UN, Turkey, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, while Moscow and Kiev signed documents separately with the UN and Ankara. In July 2023, it became known that during the year more than 32 million tons of food products were exported from three Black Sea ports of Ukraine to 45 countries on three continents. Nevertheless, Russia has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that only 5% of Ukrainian grain went to the poorest countries, while most of it was received by European states. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it another scam.
The second part of the agreement included a memorandum between the Russian Federation and the United Nations, which provided for the removal of obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizers to world markets. It was the lack of progress on the second track and the inability of the UN to influence the situation that caused the termination of the grain deal, which Russia and the United States are now trying to restore. Despite the formal continuation of the memorandum, no progress has been achieved over the entire period.
Initially, in 2022, it was supposed to reconnect the Rosselkhoznadzor to SWIFT, resume the supply of agricultural machinery, spare parts and service in Russia. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently noted, the UN is "looking for ways not through the principled lifting of sanctions." The Secretary General of the organization, Antonio Guterres, according to the minister, took a different path. "He decided to look for loopholes in the sanctions imposed by the West without demanding their lifting, moreover, in fact, respecting and implementing these sanctions, which is absolutely unacceptable for a UN official, for any UN official, and even more so for the Secretary General," Sergey Lavrov added.
Former UN Deputy Secretary General and former Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ordzhonikidze believes that the world organization is unlikely to be able to contribute to the resumption of the initiative.
"This should rather be a matter of agreement between the states, since the UN Secretary General, unfortunately, has not fulfilled his obligations under the first agreement on the Black Sea initiative," he told Izvestia. — The UN Secretary General has limited resources. He can call one president, then another, but what next? He has no real leverage.
How is the dialogue between the Russian Federation and the United States on the Black Sea initiative progressing?
According to the results of the Russian-American negotiations, at which the parties discussed the Black Sea initiative, there is no mention of any role of the UN in the statements of the Russian Federation and the United States. It only says that the parties agreed to "ensure the implementation of the Black Sea initiative, which includes ensuring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, the non-use of force and the prevention of the use of commercial vessels for military purposes, while organizing appropriate control measures through the inspection of such vessels."
In addition, the statement clearly states the role of the American side: "The United States will help restore access to the world market for Russian exports of agricultural products and fertilizers, reduce the cost of shipping insurance, and expand access to ports and payment systems for such transactions."
The entry into force of these clauses requires the lifting of a number of sanctions, which the Kremlin emphasizes. This includes, in particular, the lifting of restrictions on companies producing and exporting food (including fish products) and fertilizers. In addition, it mentions the lifting of restrictions imposed on the Rosselkhoznadzor and other financial organizations involved in ensuring international trade in food and fertilizers. They need to be connected to SWIFT and open the necessary correspondent accounts.
Thus, the Americans, in fact, decided to take on those obligations that were previously within the competence of the United Nations and which the international organization could not cope with.
Another thing is that there are no serious successes on the part of the United States right now. The European Union has stated that it does not plan to lift sanctions while the conflict in Ukraine continues. Brussels intends to continue putting pressure on Moscow, as evidenced by the EU's plans to adopt a new package of measures.
— The European Union is not interested in reviving the deal itself, but in fulfilling the conditions necessary for its launch, which Russia has set. Europe cannot abruptly change its political course and go for a potential easing or lifting of some sanctions against the Russian Federation, whereas in the United States the political leadership has changed, and with it the strategy of pursuing a foreign policy course," Tigran Meloyan, an analyst at the HSE Center for Mediterranean Studies, tells Izvestia.
Moreover, the EU's "sluggishness" is currently linked to the strict conditions that Brussels has set as determining the start of a dialogue on lifting sanctions. This primarily concerns the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, which Moscow will not accept, he said. The situation is aggravated by the fact that changing the EU sanctions regime will require the consent of all 27 member states, many of which are still opposed.
However, the United States has levers of influence on EU policy, according to Mikhail Mironyuk, associate professor at the Department of Politics and Management at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
— If there are no NATO reconnaissance flights and the Starlink system, then there will be no Ukrainian backups (unmanned boats), or they will be controlled by live kamikazes and Neptunes (as well as "long" UAVs) and it is possible to remove mines supplied by Ukraine in 2022. The European bureaucracy may have any desires and aspirations, but its political and intelligence resources are many times inferior to those of the United States. The European front will end at the moment when a soft request is received from overseas, which cannot be refused, the expert is sure.
Despite Russia's withdrawal from the initial grain deal, the importance of the Black Sea initiative for the Russian Federation should not be underestimated. If it works, it will increase the volume of exports of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers. This remains impossible now due to the numerous restrictions imposed on payments, logistics, and insurance. At the same time, if the issue with SWIFT can be resolved, Russia will increase the inflow of foreign currency, which currently settles on the accounts of intermediaries. This will significantly ease the country's budget burden, Tigran Meloyan added.
— The initiative also has an important humanitarian component, as it allows for uninterrupted food supplies to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Thus, by participating in the deal, Russia can confirm its status as a responsible global player," he added.
Finally, we are talking about the security of Russia's southern borders, the stability of shipping in the Black Sea region, the normalization of trade flows and the restoration of disrupted logistics chains. All this will require constant cooperation between Russia, Ukraine and the United States, with the involvement of the United Nations and Turkey, he is sure. By the way, a two-day meeting on security in the Black Sea was held in Ankara on April 15-16. However, as the media reported, there were no Russian representatives among the participants.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
