UN Spokesman Stephane Dujjaric said in a briefing Wednesday that the UN was discussing allowing some Russian banks to re-enter the SWIFT payment system, as a means of helping to continue grain shipments from Ukraine under a special agreement.
Asked during the briefing if there were any advances to report in the negotiations with Russia over the grain shipment agreement, Dujjaric said the the UN was “trying to doggedly move the process forward.”
On Wednesday, Moscow had noted that in its opinion, the likelihood of extending the grain deal beyond May 18th so grain and fertilizer would be able to be safely exported from several Black Sea ports in Ukraine, was “not good.”
Moscow has requested that to gain its agreement to the deal, the Russian Agricultural Bank must see its access to the SWIFT system returned, which would allow Russia to import agricultural machinery. Russia also seeks to see the removal of insurance restrictions, gain port access for Russian ships and cargoes, as well gain the unblocking of the financial actions of fertilizer companies based out of Russia.
Dujjaric noted, “Obviously, the fact that a number of Russian financial institutions are not, if not all of them, I’m not sure, are not in the SWIFT system makes things more complicated. And we are in discussions with the people who are responsible for SWIFT and the Europeans and others on that.”
He also noted however that the United Nations has no authority over access to the SWIFT system, nor can it control the decisions of the EU nations which have imposed sanctions on Russia. He said, of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “He has no authority over insurance companies, shipping companies. He can’t tell them what to do,” adding that “we’re trying to herd a whole group of people.”
Although Western sanctions imposed on Russia do not specifically target agricultural goods, they impede the ability to settle payments, gain insurance, and ship goods. Direct settlements for exported products have been made exceedingly difficult, due to the fact that many Russian banks are disconnected from the SWIFT system.
Under the grain-export deal, brokered by the UN and Türkiye last July, Russia would have received a reprieve from sanctions, in return for it facilitating the export of Ukrainian agricultural products, ostensibly to be primarily shipped to poverty stricken nations for humanitarian reasons. However according to Moscow, only half of the agreement was honored, because the UN has not effectively intervened to have Western sanctions on the sector lifted. Furthermore, Moscow has argued that the shipments leaving Ukraine have tended to be shipped to higher-priced markets for greater profits, and not to poorer nations to alleviate poverty.
Regardless the Kremlin agreed to extend the agreement for 60 days, emphasizing it would not consider a further extension if its own demands in relation to its exports continued to be ignored.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in response that they UN would “do everything possible to preserve the integrity” of the agreement, and make sure it would continue to remain operational.
The agreement has reportedly allowed 27.5 million tons of agricultural products to be exported from Ukraine to the world market, which the UN noted, has helped to lower food prices worldwide.
