Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed there has been no progress in discussions on renewing an agreement on grain exports from Ukraine ports following a brief visit to the United Nations.
Lavrov was in New York this week to partly discuss with UN secretary general Antonio Guterres renewing the Black Sea Grain Initiative which expires on 18 May.
On his return to Moscow, in comments reported on the Foreign Ministry website, Lavrov said: “Yes, we see the efforts of the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and his colleagues, but there are practically no results.”
Lavrov confirmed that a letter had been sent by Guterres to Russian President Vladimir Putin offering a compromise over Russian fertiliser exports, which is the main stumbling block of the renewal negotiations.
He said he hoped the contents of the letter did not “leak out”.
Although the West recognises Russian fertiliser and food exports, sanctions which are in place on shipping, insurance and banking are blocking the trade.
Lavrov revealed that Guterres had asked three US banks to help facilitate fertiliser exports — following Russia’s exclusion from the global SWIFT interbank system — but only one trade had been completed so far.
The problems with fertiliser exports is adding to global food production problems, particularly in South America.
Lavrov pointed out there are around 200,000 tonnes of Russian fertiliser currently being held in foreign ports.
He added that fertiliser exports from Russia had been part of the deal since the Black Sea Grain Initiative was agreed in June 2022.
