UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for faster grain shipments from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea under a deal allowing safe exports in wartime, a United Nations spokesman said on Tuesday, as Russia threatens to withdraw from the deal next month.
The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grains Initiative with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help tackle a global food crisis exacerbated by Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor and blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
But Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for the United Nations, said food exports “have fallen dramatically from a peak of 4.2 million metric tons in October 2022 to 1.3 million in May, the lowest volume since the initiative began last year.”
Guterres was disappointed by the slow pace of inspections of ships and the exclusion of Pivdenye (Yuzhny), one of three Ukrainian ports covered by the Black Sea export pact.
“The Secretary-General calls on the parties to accelerate processes and urges them to do everything they can to ensure the continuation of this vital agreement, which is scheduled for renewal on July 17,” Haq said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia was considering withdrawing from the grain agreement, which also allows for the export of ammonia, but that did not happen.
Russia used to export up to 2.5 million tons of ammonia annually through the port of Pivdenye. But the pipeline was closed due to the war, and Moscow this month accused Ukrainian forces of blowing up part of the pipeline.
Restarting the pipeline was one of several demands Russia has made in talks to extend the grain deal. Last month, Moscow began stopping ships heading to the port of Bevdenye under the agreement until the ammonia pipeline is restarted.
To persuade Russia to agree to the initiative, a three-year deal was struck in July 2022 in which the United Nations agreed to help Moscow overcome any obstacles to its food and fertilizer shipments.
While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance are an impediment to shipments.
The Russian Foreign Ministry was quoted by the state-run TASS news agency as saying on Tuesday that the United Nations confirmed it could do nothing to address some of Russia’s main complaints.
Haq said the UN was “fully committed” to supporting the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative to facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports.
“This (agreement) is very important now, with the start of the new grain harvest in both Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” he added.