UN Secretary General "deeply disappointed" by Russia's decision to withdraw from grain deal
António Guterres, UN Secretary General, has said he was "deeply disappointed" that his proposals to remove obstacles to Russian food and fertiliser exports went "unheeded" and expressed "regret" that Russia had decided to withdraw from the grain deal.
Source: This was reported by CNN
"I deeply regret the decision by the Russian Federation to terminate the implementation of the Black Sea initiative, including the withdrawal of Russian security guarantees for navigation in the northwestern part of the Black Sea," Guterres said on Monday.
"The Black Sea initiative, together with the memoranda of understanding on facilitating exports of Russian food products and fertilisers have been a lifeline for global food security and the beacon of hope in a troubled world," he said.
Guterres explained that the deal has helped reduce food prices by more than 23% since the start of the pandemic.
"Ultimately, participation in these agreements is a choice, but struggling people everywhere and developing countries don't have a choice. Hundreds of millions of people face hunger and consumers are confronting a global cost of living crisis and they will pay the price," he stated.
"In the US we are already seeing a jump in wheat prices this morning," Guterres said.
Guterres said he was aware of certain obstacles that "remained in the foreign trade of Russian food and fertiliser products," but he said he had written a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin outlining ways to address those obstacles, as well as the benefits Russia gained from the deal.
Background: Earlier on July 17, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian President, announced the suspension of the grain agreement. Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, informed RIA Novosti that Russia has officially notified Türkiye, Ukraine, and the UN Secretary General about its objections to the extension of the grain agreement.
President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said that he believes the Russian president actually wants the agreement to be extended and will talk to him about it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is ready to extend the agreement without Russia and will send appropriate signals to the intermediaries of the agreement, the UN and Türkiye.
The representative of the UN office in Istanbul confirmed that the UN received a written notification from the Russian Federation about the withdrawal from the grain agreement.
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