Press release on Istanbul agreements

The second 120-day validity period of the Black Sea Initiative on exporting Ukrainian food expired on March 18. With the lack of progress in implementing the Russia-UN Memorandum on normalising Russian agricultural exports, Moscow decided to shorten the next renewal period to 60 days until May 18.

This position was officially communicated to the Turkish and Ukrainian sides of the Black Sea Initiative, as well as the UN officials. No formal objections followed. Thus, the agreement will remain valid for the next two months within the existing parameters and without any changes in the ports involved, cargo nomenclature or the coordinated inspection procedure.

Further decisions on extending the initiative will depend on progress in complying with the following terms and conditions in the context of implementing the Russia-UN Memorandum: reconnecting Russian Agricultural Bank (RusAg) to SWIFT; resuming supplies of agricultural machinery, its parts and maintenance; lifting restrictions on insurance and reinsurance, plus lifting the ban on access to ports; resuming the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline operation; and unblocking foreign assets and accounts of the Russian companies involved in the production and transport of food and fertilisers. Pending progress in complying with the above requirements, which are not new and should have been complied with as part of the Russia-UN Memorandum, our participation in the Black Sea Initiative will be suspended.

As a reminder, the Black Sea Initiative and the Russia-UN Memorandum form a package deal proposed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022. They must be implemented simultaneously as a package in order to ensure global food security and provide assistance to needy countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Until now, only the Ukrainian part of the package has been implemented within the parameters that are far from the stated humanitarian goals: the commercial export of feed grain to countries with high and above average incomes. Russian exports of agricultural products and fertilisers, including operation of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, remain blocked as a result of unilateral Western sanctions and Kiev's political games. Even the free-of-charge transfer of Russian fertilisers (262,000 tonnes) to the poorest countries is being carried out with great difficulties and delays. Just one batch (20,000 tonnes) was shipped to Malawi in six months.