Jake Sullivan, National Security Adviser to the US President, has said that failure to extend the Grain Initiative, which expires on 17 July, will cost Russia huge diplomatic expenses.
Source: Sullivan in an interview with CBS, European Pravda reports
Details: Asked whether there are signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to continue this initiative, he said he could not predict the Kremlin’s actions.
Sullivan noted that in recent months, Putin has repeatedly changed his mind about the grain agreement.
Quote: “If in fact, they pull out of it, the rest of the world will take a look at that and say that Russia has turned its back on ensuring that the countries of the global south and Africa and Latin America and Asia can get the food they need at affordable prices. And I think that will come at an enormous diplomatic cost to Russia going forward.”
More details: Sullivan added that Putin will have to make a choice, and the US is ready for any scenario and is working closely with Ukraine on this issue.
Background:
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated on Friday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin share the same opinion on extending the grain initiative.
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The Kremlin denied Erdoğan’s statement.
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According to the media, the EU considered making concessions to the Russian bank for the sake of the Grain Initiative. In particular, they proposed to create a subsidiary company of the sanctioned Rosselkhozbank in order to restore its connection with SWIFT. Also, according to the media outlets, UN Secretary General António Guterres offered Putin to extend the Grain Initiative in exchange for connecting a subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT international payment system.
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On 13 July, Putin announced the conditions for extending the grain agreement.
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