To persuade Russia to extend the grain deal with Ukraine, the EU is considering possible concessions. According to diplomats, the idea is to offer the Agricultural Bank of Russia tolerance to circumvent EU sanctions.
This could create a subsidiary to be able to again use the Swift international financial communication network to process certain payments. The bank itself is currently not allowed to do this due to sanctions due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
According to information supplied by the dpa, the backdrop for the considerations are Russia’s threats to let the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea expire in the middle of this month. The government justifies this with alleged restrictions on Russian exports of agricultural products and fertilizers, which it hopes will be relaxed in exchange for Ukrainian grain exports.
In that context, Moscow is also specifically demanding an end to sanctions against its state agricultural bank so that it can more easily process payments. According to diplomats, the fact that the EU is not simply lifting sanctions against the agricultural bank has to do with the fact that there would probably not be the necessary consensus among member states.