The United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres proposed a four-point agreement to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to get Russia back to the "grain agreement."
This is reported by the German newspaper "Bild" with reference to Guterresʼ secret letter to Lavrov.
Here are the four points:
The first point is to cancel EU sanctions (exclusion from the SWIFT system) against the Russian Agrarian Bank. The head of the UN proposes to use a specially created subsidiary of the Russian bank RSHB Capital SA to circumvent sanctions.
In the second point, Guterres offers Lavrov to insure Russian ships against attacks by Ukraine in the Azov and Black seas. The UN chief offers not only "cargo insurance for the export of Russian food and fertilizers", but also "casco and liability" insurance. Casco insurance is a comprehensive insurance against external effects on vessels used for transportation, and P&I is a comprehensive third-party liability insurance.
Guterres promises Lavrov that "the United Nations will support insurance to emphasize the importance of Russian exports to global food security."
In the third point, Guterres offers Lavrov to help unfreeze the assets of Russian fertilizer production companies frozen in the EU.
In the fourth point, Guterres proposes to "ensure effective access of Russian vessels carrying food and fertilizers to EU ports through fast port permits." The UN has already held talks with the European Commission and individual port authorities of Germany, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
According to "Bild", the Russian leadership is now carefully studying the UN proposals and has not yet agreed to them, as the Kremlin considers the proposals "too good to be true" and doubts the "technical feasibility" of these concessions.
- On July 17, 2023, the Kremlin informed that it was withdrawing from the "grain agreement". Already on July 19, Russian troops carried out a missile and drone attack on the port infrastructure of Odesa, targeting the grain and oil terminals. After that, Russia began systematically shelling Ukraineʼs grain infrastructure.
- On August 10, Ukraine declared about temporary sea corridors for merchant vessels. There is a military threat and mine danger on all routes. If the owner or captain of the ship officially confirms readiness to leave, the ship will be allowed to the route. Under such conditions , on August 16, the first merchant ship with more than 30 000 tons of food left the Odesa port.
- On September 4, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke with Putin in Sochi. Turkey and Russia did not agree on the restoration of the grain initiative.