Guterres talks about the letter to Putin on the grain deal: what the UN promised the Kremlin

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he had informed him of an agreement to connect a subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT payment system. This Russian bank is under sanctions.

Guterres said this during a briefing on 17 July. The concession was planned to be exchanged for the preservation of the grain agreement on the export of Ukrainian food via the Black Sea.

"My letter also states: "The Russian Federation has raised the issue of Rosselkhozbank's access to the SWIFT system as a key factor influencing its decision. In this regard, the UN has recently reached a concrete decision with the European Commission to allow the subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank to regain access to SWIFT," Guterres said.

At the same time, the UN emphasises that it will "not stop its efforts" to ensure grain exports from Ukraine and Russia. At the same time, the Russian mission to the UN said that Russia's decision to withdraw from the grain deal was "final" and that negotiations were no longer ongoing.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan is also counting on the extension of the agreement and the resumption of negotiations. He said he was already preparing to talk to Putin.

"Despite the statement made today, I believe that Russian President Putin wants this humanitarian bridge to continue. We will probably take steps in a telephone conversation with Mr Putin," Erdogan said.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, on 17 July, the terrorist country Russia announced its withdrawal from the grain deal. As a result, Russia is restoring the regime of a temporarily dangerous area in the northwestern Black Sea. It also announced that the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, Turkey, would be disbanded.

In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and Russia had not signed any bilateral agreements. He proposed to continue implementing the agreement without Russia.

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