2023-07-13 17:22:14
The grain deal will be extended only after the fulfillment of all obligations to Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin. The agreement expires July 17th.
“We will extend. Exactly at the moment when the promises given to us will be fulfilled,” the head of state said. The President also called the agreement “a one-sided game”, but “we have voluntarily extended this so-called deal many times.”
The grain agreement was concluded on July 22, 2022 between Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine. Separate agreements were concluded between the Russian and Ukrainian authorities. According to the first agreement, grain from Ukraine will be exported from three ports, including Odessa, Yuzhny and Chernomorsk, and the second agreement refers to assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers. Moscow has already noted that the second part of the deal, which concerns the supply of Russian products, is not being implemented.
The president also confirmed that deliveries of Western-made long-range missiles to Ukraine are damaging Russia, but “nothing critical is happening in the war zone using these missiles.” “The same thing, foreign-made tanks, infantry fighting vehicles,” Putin said. According to him, since June 4 alone, 311 tanks have been destroyed, one third of which are “western-made, including Leopards.”
“From the point of view of a possible change on the battlefield, the supply of new weapons will do nothing, it will only aggravate the situation. Moreover, it will aggravate for the Ukrainian side,” the head of state specified.
On July 12, the last day of the NATO summit in Vilnius, National Security Adviser to the US President Jake Sullivan announced the continuation of discussions on the supply of long-range missiles to Kyiv. The day before, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the transfer of long-range missiles to the Ukrainian army for “deep strikes”. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, called France’s decision “wrong” and noted that “this will lead to the adoption of countermeasures.”
At the same time, Putin called Ukraine’s membership in NATO a threat. He recalled that this particular threat is “one of the reasons for the special military operation.” In his opinion, Ukraine’s membership in the alliance will not increase its security, but will make the world more vulnerable and lead to additional tension. At the same time, he clarified that any country has the right to ensure its own security, but to ensure the security of Ukraine “there is only one limitation – it is due to the fact that, while achieving the security of one country, there should not be a threat to another country.”
At the Vilnius summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on the member countries of the alliance to provide Ukraine with long-term support, in particular, to create security guarantees and simplify the country’s accession to NATO in the future. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the wording of the Secretary General on simplified entry into the organization. He was outraged by the lack of timelines for both the invitation and the country’s membership. The Ukrainian leader concluded that the NATO countries are not ready for such a step, calling the “uncertainty” of the alliance a weakness.
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