A third party, which will be determined later, will ensure the security of ships with Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea, along with Russia and Türkiye, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday, Trend reports citing TASS.
"We managed to reach an agreement in Istanbul: Ukraine demines ports and lets ships take to sea, while Russia, Türkiye and one more party, which will be determined later, escort the ships to the Bosporus," he said at a meeting with the ambassadors of the Arab League nations.
According to Lavrov, the Russia-UN memorandum that was signed concurrently with the agreements in Istanbul "binds the United Nations Secretary General to launch the process, persuade Western countries to lift all restrictions" imposed on the export of Russian grain.
The minister recalled that food was not covered by the anti-Russian sanctions directly. But Russian ships with food are banned from calling at foreign ports and foreign ships cannot call at Russian ports to take grain, he said, adding that the sanctions apply to payment and insurance mechanisms and this has only aggravated the global food crisis.