MFA denies that there are additional conditions in ‘grain agreement’

"First of all, you should clearly remember that we signed an agreement with Türkiye and the UN, therefore, we have and fulfill our obligations to the world community, the UN, and Türkiye. We have declared to our partners in the UN and Türkiye that we reserve the right to supply our grain for such a long period [120 days]. It is difficult for me to say what Russia signed and what it declares," Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mykola Tochytskyi told Ukrinform in a comment on Wednesday, March 23.

Commenting on Russia's statement on the extension of the grain agreement for 60 days instead of 120, the official noted that this is Russia’s another attempt to show that nothing will happen in the world without them.

"But it's not really like that. There is a sufficient number of countries that understood over the year of the war who is the aggressor and who is the victim, who defends and helps the world in the fight against mass hunger, and who creates obstacles to spread this hunger and thereby gain influence in one or another region," the diplomat said.

Commenting on Russia's statement that it allegedly conveyed its position to the Ukrainian side, the deputy minister noted that Ukraine does not have diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation.

"Obviously, they conveyed something through one of their partners which they have few. However, I am not familiar with this yet," Tochytskyi said.

He also rejected the conditions put forward by Russia to extend the grain agreement.

"If you look at the agreement we signed, it is about the supply of Ukrainian grain by sea," the deputy foreign minister emphasized.

According to him, Russia has chosen the only way – to create obstacles and a coalition around itself, which will say within the framework of international organizations that "poor Russia" is suffering from the war with Ukraine.

"But they started the war and this, frankly speaking, is nonsense, no one is preventing them from anything," Tochytskyi summarized.

As reported, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated on March 20 that Moscow agreed to extend the grain agreement, which expired on March 18, allegedly for only 60 days, instead of 120, as it was before. At the same time, there are no changes regarding the number of ports, cargo nomenclature, and inspection procedure. To further extend the "Black Sea Initiative", Moscow requires the fulfillment of its conditions, in particular, reconnecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT; restoring supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts, and service; lifting restrictions on insurance and reinsurance and ban on access to ports; resuming operation of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline; unblocking foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies related to the production and transportation of food and fertilizers.

At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry claims that their position was allegedly brought to the attention of the Turkish and Ukrainian sides, as well as representatives of the UN.