Russia on Friday said it needed actions, not promises, from the U.S. to meet the conditions it has set for a return to the Black Sea grain deal, a day after Washington pledged to do "whatever is necessary" to ensure Moscow can freely export food if the key initiative is revived.
Russia last month declined to renew the breakthrough deal that had allowed Ukraine to ship grain from its Black Sea ports despite the war, saying not enough had been done to remove obstacles to its own exports of food and fertilizer. It said it was ready to return to the agreement as soon as those issues were addressed.
"If they want to contribute to fulfilling the part of the grain deal that is due to Russia, the Americans must fulfill it, not promise that they will think about it," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"As soon as this is done, this deal will immediately be renewed."
A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters, "In the event of a return to the agreement, of course, we'll continue to do whatever is necessary to make sure that everyone can export their food, and food products freely and safely to include Russia."
Western countries have accused Russia of using food as a weapon of war by quitting the Black Sea deal, which had helped to bring down global food prices, and carrying out repeated airstrikes in recent weeks on Ukrainian ports and grain stores.
Blinken accused Moscow of "blackmail" over its withdrawal from the grain initiative, and the European Union called on G-20 countries to push the Kremlin to resume it.
Russia says the deal was not working properly as not enough grain was getting to the poorest countries. It says its own food exports, while not targeted directly, are hampered by Western sanctions affecting port access, insurance and banking.
The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye in July 2022, aimed at easing the global food crisis after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are both leading grain exporters.
"We want to see that food on world markets. We want everyone to benefit from lower prices," Blinken said after chairing a U.N. Security Council meeting on food insecurity caused by conflict.
Many countries at the gathering expressed disappointment that Russia had quit the deal and urged them to reconsider.
To convince Russia to agree to the Black Sea deal, another pact was also struck in July 2022 under which U.N. officials agreed to help Russia get its food and fertilizer exports to foreign markets.
While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion, Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have hindered shipments.
During the Security Council meeting on Thursday, Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy accused Western countries of an "arrogant unwillingness" to help fulfill the U.N. pact with Moscow.
He stressed that Russia held a larger share of the global wheat market than Ukraine and was a key fertilizer exporter. "Western countries need to focus on ensuring that Russian grain and fertilizers can get to countries in need without hindrance," Polyanskiy said.
Pricing pressures
Blinken told reporters that Russia's food exports have exceeded levels prior to its invasion of Ukraine.
"Having said that, to the extent that there have been problems with things like shipping and insurance, we have throughout the process of the Black Sea Grant initiative, taken steps to work through them and address them," he said.
This included writing comfort letters to banks "to assure them that it was fine to process these transactions and that they wouldn't run afoul of our sanctions," Blinken said.
U.S. bank JPMorgan has processed some Russian grain export payments with reassurances from Washington.
The U.N. has argued that the Black Sea deal helped everyone because it brought prices down 23% from a record high in the weeks following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
After Moscow quit the deal, it began targeting Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure on the Black Sea and Danube River, sending global grain prices soaring.
"If all the problems that have been publicly raised by us... are eliminated, we will be ready to once again take part in the Black Sea initiative," Polyanskiy reiterated.
Africa calls for unlocking of Russian grain
The European Union has warned developing countries that Russia is offering cheap grain "to create new dependencies by exacerbating economic vulnerabilities and global food insecurity," according to a letter accessed by Reuters on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told African leaders last week that Russia was ready to replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa on both a commercial and aid basis to fulfill what he said was Moscow's critical role in global food security.
Polyanskiy described the EU warning as "perverted logic," adding, "Russia has never considered Africa, Asia or Latin America as a space for extracting profits."
Separately, African leaders involved in peace talks over Ukraine on Thursday called for the unlocking of Russian grain and fertilizer exports to revive the grain deal.
The group also called for the U.N. to take action to release 200,000 tons of Russian fertilizer blocked in European Union seaports, said Vincent Magwenya, a spokesperson for South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa.
"The leaders called for specific steps to remove obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports, thus allowing the resumption of the full implementation of the Black Sea package initiative," Magwenya told a press briefing in Pretoria.
The call to satisfy some of the Kremlin's requests was made by Ramaphosa and six other heads-of-state, including Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt and Macky Sall of Senegal, after talks with Putin in St. Petersburg last week, Magwenya said.
Egypt, South Africa and Senegal are part of a seven-country African diplomatic effort to broker peace between Kyiv and Moscow.