Putin, UN Under-Secretary-General discuss 'food deal' implementation

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Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin detailed the implementation of the "food deal" to UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo.

In response, DiCarlo said that the issue was on the agenda.

"After the signing of the Samarkand Declaration, Putin talked with the Deputy Secretary General of the UN, who was present, and again explained to her in detail how the food deal is being implemented. Namely, that after all, only a tiny part of what is exported from the ports actually reached poor countries, and there was a fairly detailed conversation," he told reporters.

"She said that this problem was on the agenda of the UN, and the UN was dealing with it," Peskov added.

This comes a few days after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world will be at risk of food shortages next year if the problem of a destabilized fertilizer market is not resolved soon.

During a briefing, Guterres said, "In 2022 we have no lack of food, we have a problem of distribution”, adding, "If we don't normalize the fertilizer market, we will have a problem of food in 2023."

Elsewhere in his remarks, he revealed that the United Nations is considering expanding the grain agreement to include ammonia exports.

Russia alone in 2021 was the leading exporter of nitrogen fertilizers, the second major supplier of potassium fertilizers, and the third-largest supplier of phosphorous fertilizers. 

Western sanctions on Moscow imposed over the war in Ukraine have undermined Russia's sales of agricultural products around the globe, which prompted the Kremlin to suspend the export of fertilizers.

The sanctions fired back at the West, surging food prices in March to their highest levels ever, while the International Monetary Fund warned in April that global food prices will likely rise further in the future due to the war, the sanctions on Russia and Belarus, and climate issues ravaging the planet.

The US and its allies have rolled out comprehensive sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war, including restrictions on the Russian central bank, export control measures, SWIFT cutoff for select banks, and closure of airspace to all Russian flights. Many of their companies have suspended their Russian operations, and the sanctions even affected agriculture and foodstuffs.

Last month, Guterres noted that since the UN-mediated grain deal was reached in July, over 20 ships have left Ukrainian ports, and an additional 15 ships have departed Istanbul for Ukraine to fill up with food. Due to the Black Sea grain agreement, Wheat prices have dropped by 8%, and the FAO Food Price Index has experienced its greatest dip since 2008.

"In less than one month, 21 ships have departed from Ukrainian ports and 15 vessels have left Istanbul for Ukraine to load up with grain and other food supplies," adding then that "as we speak, more than 560,000 metric tons of grain and other food produced by Ukrainian farmers is making its way to markets around the world."

What is the grain deal? 

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, and Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov signed a grain deal mediated by the United Nations in Istanbul.

"The Secretary-General is the witness of the Black Sea initiative, we expect to see the defense minister of the Russian Federation, defense minister of Turkey, and the infrastructure minister of Ukraine signing the deal," a senior UN official told a briefing before the signing of the deal.

The Ukrainian side will have control over the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny, from which grain exports will be organized, according to the agreements. Aside from that, no ships other than those exporting grain and related food products and fertilizers will be permitted to dock at these ports.

Since the agreement has been put into effect, Ukraine has shipped one million tonnes of foodstuff from its three Black Sea ports under the UN-backed grain deal, according to Ukrainian media outlets. 

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