“We are forced to affirm that the ‘package’ of agreements proposed by the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022, does not work,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. release.
The main problem is the sabotage by Western countries of the implementation of the Russia-UN Memorandum. The United States and Europe do not care about the needs of countries in need, nor about the efforts of the UN, an organization that “they have long and persistently tried to turn into an obedient tool to fulfill their political goals,” diplomats say.
The Foreign Ministry recalled that 8 months after the conclusion of the agreements, only part of the “package” is being implemented – for the export of Ukrainian food. Since August 1 last year, more than 23 million tons have been transported to high-income countries (47 percent), mainly the EU. At the same time, the proportion of supplies to countries in need is steadily declining, reaching 2.6 percent.
It’s time to stop playing the food card, the statement says. Most of the Ukrainian grain goes at dumped prices for fodder to the European Union, and not to the poorest countries. At the same time, open obstacles are placed on agricultural exports from the Russian Federation. The West without a twinge of conscience buries the humanitarian “package” of the UN Secretary General, diplomats stress.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting, said that the resumption of the grain deal is possible only taking into account account the interests of Russia. “The continuation of the ‘package’ agreement on grain is only possible if the interests of Russian producers of agricultural products and fertilizers in terms of unimpeded access to world markets are taken into account,” the Russian diplomats said.
