"First of all, I am concerned. We are working hard in order to make sure that it will be possible to maintain the Black Sea initiative and at the same time that we are able to go on in our work to facilitate Russian exports," Guterres said during a press conference.
On Friday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said Russia remained disappointed that despite all the statements regularly coming from Western capitals, the barriers for Russian agricultural exports via the Black Sea are still in place and Russia's bank specializing in agricultural transactions remains barred from the SWIFT system.
In mid-May, the grain deal was extended until July 17 without any changes. The Russian Foreign Ministry has warned that if the problematic issues with the deal, including Moscow's demand to reconnect the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT system and relaunch the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, are not addressed within two months, the deal will be terminated after July 17.
The grain deal was brokered by the United Nations and Turkiye in July 2022 to facilitate the export of Ukrainian agricultural products from Black Sea ports amid the military operation launched by Russia in Ukraine in February that year. The package agreement also includes a memorandum of understanding between Russia and the United Nations to unblock Russian grain and fertilizer exports via the Black Sea, which, according to Moscow, has not been implemented due to Western sanctions.