MOSCOW, RUSSIA — Talks aimed at providing Ukraine and Russia “unimpeded access” to global grain and fertilizer markets were held between the United Nations and Russian officials Oct. 9 in Moscow, Reuters reported.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said top UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan was in Moscow and UN aid chief Martin Griffiths joined the talks virtually.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “continues in his determination to facilitate the unimpeded access to global markets for food products and fertilizers from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” Dujarric said. Grynspan and Griffiths’ consultations with Russia “are taking place with this goal in mind.”
Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports has been blamed for a worsening global food crisis. Ukraine and Russia are major grain exporters, while Russia is also a significant supplier of fertilizer.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the UN and Turkey with Russia and Ukraine, began in July 2022 and had helped bring some 33 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain — including wheat, corn, barley and sunflower oil — to world markets before its demise. Russia quit the deal this past July over complaints its own wheat and fertilizer shipments were impeded by Western economic sanctions.
To convince Russia to agree to the Black Sea deal last year, UN officials have said they would help facilitate Russian exports.
Guterres sent Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a letter in August outlining measures that the UN could help to improve Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports in a bid to convince Moscow to return to a deal.
Since pulling out of the grain deal, Russia reinstated its blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, although Ukraine recentlyhas begun shipping grainon a route that hugs the country’s coast. Russia also has stepped up its attacks on grain infrastructure at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and on the Danube River over the last two months.
