Moscow, MINA – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow had started sending supplies of Russian grain to six African countries.
Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Mali, Somalia and Zimbabwe will each get 50,000 tons of grain for free in the coming months, he said at an event in Moscow. Russia will also cover shipping costs, he continued.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously promised to supply free grain to Africa after Moscow decided to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal in July.
Moscow suspended its participation in the agreement because several of its demands have not yet been met, namely eliminating barriers to Russian fertilizer exports and returning Russian agricultural banks to the SWIFT international payment system.
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During the event, Lavrov also mentioned the Ukrainian peace consultation meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on August 5-6.
Saudi Arabia had told Moscow that the meeting was organized to convey an idea to Western countries and Ukraine that a peace settlement between Moscow and Kiev could not make progress without Russia’s participation, he said.
Regarding Russia’s desire to trade with currencies other than the US dollar, Lavrov said that Washington had undermined the currency’s position by weaponizing it.
According to Lavrov, currently Russia does not have enough experience to switch to other currencies, but standard procedures will develop gradually as many countries are forced to look for alternatives to the dollar. (T/RE1/P2)
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