The European Union is debating a proposal to allow Russiaʼs sanctioned Rossilhospbank to create a subsidiary that would join the SWIFT global financial network. This is seen as a sop to Russia to extend the grain export agreement.
This was reported by the Financial Times with reference to five people familiar with the discussion.
This idea was proposed by Russia during the UN-mediated negotiations. The initiative will allow Rossilhospbank to create a subsidiary to process payments related to grain exports. The new bank will be allowed to use the SWIFT system, which was closed to the largest Russian banks after the invasion of Ukraine.
According to the two people, the idea was seen by her supporters as the "least worst option" for Putin to support the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. European officials say that Russiaʼs threats to end the deal this time turned out to be more serious than during previous negotiations.
Currently, the EU is assessing the legality and possibility of implementing this initiative. The issue was discussed by EU leaders at a summit in Brussels last week as a potential means of persuading Moscow to extend the grain deal (which expires on July 17).
The problem is complicated by the fact that Rossilhospbank is fully owned by the Kremlin. Its former executive director Dmytro Patrushev is the current minister of agriculture and the son of Mykola Patrushev, the secretary of Russiaʼs Security Council.
- From May 17, the "grain agreement" between the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia was extended for two months. Already in June , the Russian Federation began to block the agreement and did not register ships entering the ports of Ukraine.