UN efforts to save Black Sea grain deal to continue in coming days

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (Reuters) – The U.N. aid chief said on Monday efforts will continue in coming days to extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, a pact Russia has threatened to quit on May 18 over obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports.

“Continuation of the Black Sea Initiative is critically important, as is recommitment by the parties to its smooth and efficient operation,” Martin Griffiths told a United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine. 

“We will continue to call on all to meet their responsibilities as the world watches us very closely.”

The U.N. and Turkey brokered the Black Sea agreement in July last year to help tackle a global food crisis that has been aggravated by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, one of the world’s leading grain exporters. At the same time, the U.N. agreed to help Moscow facilitate its own agricultural shipments.

Griffiths met in Istanbul last week with senior officials from Russia, Ukraine and Turkey but there was no Russian agreement to extend the Black Sea deal.

“These efforts will continue and focus in coming days,” Griffths said on Monday. 

Russia has issued a list of demands regarding its own agricultural exports that it wants met before it agrees to an extension of the deal. Those include restarting a pipeline that delivers Russian ammonia to a Ukrainian Black Sea port, which the United Nations has been pushing for.

“The (Black Sea) Initiative refers to the export of ammonia, but this has not yet been realized,” Griffiths said. 

While those Russian exports are not subject to Western sanctions imposed following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.

“Food exported under the Black Sea Initiative – and food and fertilizer exports from the Russian Federation – continue to make a crucial contribution to food security at a global level,” Griffiths said. 

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Rami Ayyub and Mark Heinrich)