EU may lift sanctions on Russian bank to preserve “grain agreement” – FT

UkrAgroConsult

The European Union is considering allowing a Russian bank under sanctions to set up a subsidiary that will be able to reconnect to the SWIFT international interbank information and payment system. This was reported by the Financial Times.

According to the newspaper’s sources, this step is aimed at protecting the Black Sea grain deal, which is under threat due to the Kremlin’s ultimatums. This will allow Ukraine to export food to world markets.

“The plan proposed by Moscow during the UN-brokered talks would allow a Russian agricultural bank to set up a subsidiary to make payments related to grain exports,” the report said, citing anonymous sources.

The subsidiary would be allowed to use the global Swift system, which has been closed to Russia’s largest banks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The issue is complicated by the fact that Rosselkhozbank is fully owned by the Kremlin. Its former chairman of the board, Dmitry Patrushev, is the current Minister of Agriculture and the son of Nikolai Patrushev, Putin’s aide and secretary of the Russian Security Council, who played an important role in fomenting the war against Ukraine.

It is noted that the Kremlin refused to comment on the EU proposal. The European Commission also declined to comment.

“However, EU officials stressed that the European sanctions are not aimed at trade in agricultural and food products, including grains and fertilizers, between third countries and Russia,” the publication concluded.

Tags: sanctions, Black Sea grain corridor