The United Nations expected that the shipment of Ukraine’s grain exports to global markets via the Black Sea will stop by next May 18, after Russia confirmed that it would not agree to register any new ships in the event that the owners of these ships did not ensure that all transit operations were completed by this date, which is the date. expected to terminate the agreement. And UN officials stated, in statements today, that Russia’s representatives in the Joint Coordination Committee sent a letter to the international organization in which they affirmed that their country does not agree to the continuation of the Ukrainian grain export agreement concluded in July 2022 beyond next May 18, due to the failure to meet its demands related to facilitating Its exports of grain and fertilizer, saying that "Based on the expected end date of the initiative, new ships will only be registered after receiving guarantees from ship owners to allow them to complete their participation in the initiative by May 18.". Moscow explained that "This will avoid commercial losses and prevent potential safety risks"However, the UN officials said, in their comment on the content of the letter, that it is "It is not yet clear whether Russia means by participating in the initiative that the ship must complete its final inspection by May 18, or whether it simply needs to exit the humanitarian sea corridor by this date."pointing out that the Russian conditional "It is still not understood yet, and needs more clarification". Meanwhile, next Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York to discuss the future of the Ukraine grain export agreement. It is noteworthy that the Russian-Ukrainian agreement, sponsored by the UN and Turkey, stipulates that the joint coordination center in Istanbul, composed of officials from the four parties, inspects ships near Turkey before they sail to any of the Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea through a sea humanitarian corridor to load their cargo and return to Turkish waters. to conduct a final inspection, amid estimates that the duration of the first and second inspections will take an average of 21 days. To help persuade Russia to allow Ukraine to resume grain exports through its Black Sea ports, a separate three-year deal was struck last July, in which the United Nations agreed to help Moscow export its food and fertilizer products.
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