Hidden weapons in export: Lavrov: Agreement on grain exports is valid

Is the Kremlin keeping its promise to ensure grain exports from Ukrainian ports? Although Russian troops are shelling the port city of Odessa in the south of the country, Foreign Minister Lavrov has assured compliance with the relevant agreement - subject to conditions.

Hidden weapons in export: Lavrov: Agreement on grain exports is valid

Is the Kremlin keeping its promise to ensure grain exports from Ukrainian ports? Although Russian troops are shelling the port city of Odessa in the south of the country, Foreign Minister Lavrov has assured compliance with the relevant agreement - subject to conditions.

After the rocket attacks on the port city of Odessa, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that the international agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea is valid. The passage through a sea corridor should be monitored by a control center in Istanbul, Lavrov said during a visit to the Egyptian capital Cairo. Representatives of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations are said to be working there. Russian and Turkish forces would work together to ensure the safety of the ships on the open sea, Lavrov said.

"And when the ships head towards the Ukrainian ports to take on new cargo of food, then there is also a check that ensures that nobody brings weapons there on the way to the Ukrainian ports," Lavrov said. He also reminded that two documents were signed last Friday in Istanbul - one for grain exports from Ukraine; on the other hand, that the United Nations is committed to easier exports of Russian food and fertilizer.

Moscow complains that the sanctions imposed by the EU and the USA in the wake of Russia's war against Ukraine are now slowing down exports, although food is not directly affected. According to Lavrov, UN Secretary-General António Guterres wants to try to lift the "illegal restrictions" himself. "We will hope that he will succeed," Lavrov said.

The West has it in its own hands to ease the situation on the food market, which has been heated up by high prices. To do this, the sanctions that hindered Russia's exports of grain and fertilizers would have to be lifted, Lavrov said. Russia will also continue to do everything it can to fulfill its obligations as a grain supplier.

In Ukraine, preparations for grain transport are underway despite Saturday's Russian rocket attacks on the port of Odessa. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow had admitted that it had fired on the port's military infrastructure. This triggered fears that the grain agreement could still burst.