UN chief asks Russian President Putin to extend Black Sea grain deal in return for SWIFT access

According to Reuters, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin that he renew a pact that allows secure Black Sea grain exports from Ukraine in exchange for joining a unit of Russia’s agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system. Russia has threatened to pull out of the grain contract, which is set to expire on Monday since its requests to ship its grain and fertiliser overseas have yet to be addressed. The final two ships travelling under the Black Sea accord are presently loading goods at the Ukrainian port of Odesa to meet the deadline. The reconnection of the Russian agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT international payment network is a crucial demand from Moscow. The European Union cut it off in June 2022 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In May, an EU official stated that the EU was not contemplating reintroducing Russian banks. However, according to three individuals involved with the negotiations, the EU is considering linking to SWIFT a subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank to allow expressly for grain and fertiliser transactions. The European Commission did not reply quickly to a request for comment. Guterres has proposed to Putin that Russia allow the Black Sea grain deal to continue for several months, giving the EU time to connect a Rosselkhozbank subsidiary to SWIFT, two of those sources familiar with discussions told Reuters. Guterres sent a letter to Putin on Tuesday proposing a way forward to further facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports and ensure the continued Black Sea shipments of Ukrainian grain, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday. “The objective is to remove hurdles affecting financial transactions through the Russian Agricultural Bank, a major concern expressed by the Russian Federation, and simultaneously allow for the continued flow of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. He gave no further details on the proposal but added that Guterres was engaged with all relevant parties on the issue and was willing to further discuss his proposal with Russia. A spokesperson for the Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help alleviate a global food crisis worsened by Moscow’s invasion and blockade of Ukrainian ports. To convince Russia to agree to the Black Sea deal, a three-year memorandum of understanding was struck at the same time under which UN 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 the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments. As a workaround to the lack of access to SWIFT, UN officials have gotten US bank JPMorgan Chase & Co to start processing some Russian grain export payments with reassurances from the US government. The United Nations is also working with the African Export-Import Bank to create a platform to help process transactions for Russian exports of grain and fertilizer to Africa, the top UN trade official told Reuters last month.