MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/: The US Embassy in Moscow may turn to the Russian Foreign Ministry if Washington fails to understand what is required to resume the grain deal, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Earlier, the US State Department's coordinator for sanctions policy, James O'Brien, said that Moscow "needs to be clear what it is asking for." He said it was "not clear what Russia regards as success" for resuming participation in the grain deal.
"We want fulfillment of the second part of the Black Sea Initiative package deal. Everything that is on paper is certified by the UN Secretary General. If the information on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website is not enough, representatives of the US Embassy may contact the Foreign Ministry for additional clarifications," Zakharova said, commenting on O'Brien's words on her Telegram channel.
The grain deal expired on July 17. In exiting from the deal, Moscow, which had agreed to extensions of the July 2022 Istanbul agreements creating the Black Sea corridor for ships carrying Ukrainian grain several times, cited the failure of its deal partners to fulfil the Russia-related provisions of the deal, which called for removing obstacles to Russian agricultural exports. Moscow also noted that, although the Istanbul agreements were intended to ensure food security for the neediest countries, the bulk of Ukraine's grain actually went to wealthy Western countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow could consider resuming the grain deal if all of the Russia-related provisions are in fact implemented.
