UPDATE - Moscow Regularly Informs UN On Failure To Implement Part Of Grain Deal - Zakharova

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2022) Russia continues to inform the UN Secretariat about the failure to fulfill the second part of the Istanbul grain deal on a regular basis, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said earlier this week that commercial structures were involved in the Black Sea initiative, particularly in what concerns the sale of Russian fertilizers.

"I would like to remind you that the deal is a package deal - this is exactly what the UN Secretary General proposed. As for the 'Russian authorities', through our permanent mission to the UN in New York, they regularly inform the secretariat of the organization about the failure to comply with the second part of it (the grain deal), concerning Russian grain and fertilizers," Zakharova wrote on Telegram on Friday, commenting on Dujarric's remarks.

On July 22, Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey signed an UN-brokered initiative to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

The initiative consists of two package documents. The first one, a memorandum, stipulates the obligation of the UN to remove various restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to global markets.

The second defines the algorithm for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products from the Black Sea ports controlled by Ukraine.

Moscow has pointed out that the first memorandum of the grain initiative is not working. Moreover, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that most of the ships carrying Ukrainian grain did not make it to the world's poorest countries and ended up in Europe.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said after Friday phone talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that she hoped for the renewal of the agreement on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports.

Earlier in October, UN Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative Amir Mahmoud Abdulla said that the grain deal was likely to be extended and, possibly, expanded.

According to Putin, if it becomes known that the grain supply corridors are used by Ukraine to carry out terrorist attacks, the grain deal might be revised.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that Russia had requested the UN Secretariat to provide statistics on the final recipients of the grain exported from Ukraine.