Russia Will Immediately Return to Grain Deal Once All Points of Russia-UN Memorandum Are Implemented, Lavrov Says

Russia will promptly return to the grain deal as soon as all points of the Russia-UN memorandum are fulfilled, while the new proposals from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres contained promises but no guarantees, stated Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“As soon as all guarantees included in the Russia-UN memorandum as part of Guterres' package are fulfilled, we will immediately return to the implementation of everything written in the Ukrainian part of this package,” he said after talks with Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Lavrov noted that the UN Secretary-General spoke about his new initiatives during the BRICS summit at the end of August in Johannesburg. “He told me about his new initiatives and sent me relevant messages. We honestly explained to the Secretary-General and our Turkish colleagues that there are still no guarantees in this message. There are only promises to strive more quickly and more actively,” the minister added.

According to Lavrov, everything is based on the fact that “the West is obstructing the resolution of the issues that hinder the more active export of Russian grain and fertilizers.”