By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) - Moscow is "satisfied" that at Türkiye's initiative, Ukraine's leadership signed written guarantees for not using the Black Sea humanitarian corridor for military purposes, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
"Regarding the grain deal, we were satisfied that, at the initiative of Türkiye, the Ukrainian leadership signed on paper guarantees of non-repetition of attempts to use humanitarian routes in the Black Sea for military purposes. The resumption of the Ukrainian part of the deal has resumed," Lavrov told a news conference in Amman after a meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Al Safadi.
Also, there is no result regarding the second part of the deal, proposed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, aimed at the removal of any obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and grain, the minister continued.
"We have once again called on the secretary-general ... to fulfill the obligations he has imposed on himself in accordance with his own initiative," Lavrov stressed.
Lavrov urged the countries that imposed sanctions on the export of Russian food and fertilizers, to accept their responsibility as supporters of the UN-promoted deal, for the implementation of its second part.
"Regarding the second part of this package (grain deal), as I have already said, the most serious measures should be taken in the very near future, especially if we talk about the volumes of fertilizers and grain in question, then these volumes from the Russian side are incomparably higher than the corresponding Ukrainian goods," he said.
Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul on July 22 to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February. A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the UN was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.