European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis
said Russian restrictions on shipping of Ukrainian grains via
the Black Sea were creating problems not only for Kyiv but for
many developing countries.
Russia is using "grain as a weapon", said Dombrovskis, who is in
India to participate in a G20 trade ministers' meeting.
"We support all efforts by United Nations, by Turkey on Black
Sea grain initiative," he told reporters, adding the bloc was
providing alternative trading routes, also called solidarity
lanes, to Ukraine for grain and other exports.
Turkey has been trying to persuade Moscow to return to the
agreement, which was brokered by Ankara and the United Nations a
year ago and which ended last month. Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on
Thursday that Russia will return to the deal only if the West
fulfils its obligations to Moscow.
Since the Black Sea deal expired, some 45 million tonnes of
grain, oil seeds and related products have been exported through
alternative routes via Poland and Romania, providing an
important lifeline to Ukraine, Dombrovskis said.
The European Union is supporting Ukraine through defence,
financial and other aid, aiming to throw "Russian troops beyond
international borders of Ukraine," he said.
The bloc is concerned that some countries including China and
India have not joined Western sanctions against Russia,
Dombrovskis said. In bilateral talks between India and EU
officials, EU officials raised the issue of exports of refined
oil processed by India from Russian crude oil, which partly
defeated the purpose of sanctions, he added.
However, he said this was unlikely to affect ongoing talks about
a proposed EU-India free trade agreement.
($1 = 0.9259 euros)
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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