Lavrov: Russia asked UN for statistics on final recipients of Ukrainian grain

Russia has asked the UN secretariat for statistics on the final recipients of grain, which is exported from Ukrainian ports as part of a food deal, “adjusting further actions to implement this deal” depends on these data, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, Report informs referring to Russian media.

He noted that regarding the final destination of each of the grain carriers, UN statistics give a very contradictory picture: “According to UN data, the poorest countries, namely, they were the main concern of the secretary-general, when he formulated his idea, receive 5-6-7% of the volume of grain that is exported from Ukrainian ports, roughly speaking, half goes to the EU countries,” Lavrov said.

The minister stressed that this is due to the fact that then the grain is distributed around the world, including to the poorest countries.

“I would like to have a clearer picture, so we asked the UN secretariat, which is engaged in this operation and which has all the data, to provide statistics on the movement of grain to the final destination, where the final consumer is located. This is not just curiosity, the adjustment depends on it, redirecting further actions to implement this grain deal,” Lavrov said.

He also noted that the second part of the deal on the export of Russian grain and fertilizers “is practically not implemented.” According to Lavrov, “clear legal exceptions to the sanctions” for Russian companies are needed, as well as guarantees for the free entry of Russian ships into European ports and foreign ships into Russian ones. All these, Lavrov stressed, are factors that affect the free export of Russian grain. The minister added that one of the key problems is the Russian Agricultural Bank being under the sanctions, which is the main financial institution servicing the supply of fertilizers and grain to world markets.