Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Saturday. The African peace initiative for the conflict in Ukraine and the grain deal were the main topics on the agenda, the Kremlin said in a statement.
The agreement on grain shipments between Moscow and Kiev, mediated by the UN and Türkiye in summer 2022, has still not fulfilled its purpose, Putin told the South African leader. He said agricultural goods that should have been delivered to poorer nations under the deal have not reached them, including those on the African continent.
Formally known as the Black Sea Initiative, the deal was originally touted as a way of avoiding a food crisis by steering grain toward those that need it most. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that only a tiny percentage of the grain exported from Ukraine as part of the agreement has been shipped to such nations, while the bulk of it has ended up in Europe.
The deal was also accompanied by a Russia-UN memorandum on facilitating unimpeded Russian agricultural exports. The goals of this document have not been fulfilled either, Putin told Ramaphosa on Saturday. The list particularly included allowing Russia’s major agricultural lender, Rosslekhozbank, back onto the SWIFT payments system as well as sorting out insurance and logistics for Russian grain and fertilizer shipments.
Earlier this week, Putin told journalists that Moscow might suspend its participation in the deal until its agricultural exports are unblocked.
During the phone call, the two leaders also agreed to further discuss the African peace initiative for the conflict in Ukraine, including at the Russia-Africa summit scheduled for late July. Ramaphosa also thanked the Russian president for a “warm welcome and constructive dialogue” during the June visit of the African leaders to St. Petersburg, where the peace initiative was presented.
In mid-June, a delegation from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Zambia, Uganda, Congo, and the Comoros, including several heads of state, presented their ten-point roadmap to end the hostilities during separate meetings with Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. At that time, the Kremlin said that the plan contained ideas that could be implemented.
On Saturday, Ramaphosa also informed Putin about preparations for the upcoming BRICS summit that is to be hosted in Johannesburg. The event is scheduled for late August. On Friday, the Kremlin said that Putin had not yet decided how he would participate in the meeting.
The Russian president’s attendance at the event, that also will include the leaders of China, Brazil, India and South Africa, was put in doubt after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March.
The ICC accused Putin and the Russian commissioner for children’s rights of “forcible transfer of the population” over the evacuation of minors from the combat zone amid the struggle in Ukraine. Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute that established the court and says the body has no authority. South Africa is a member of the ICC, though, and the nation’s laws oblige it to arrest Putin if he sets foot on its territory.
On Tuesday, South African Deputy President Paul Mashatile told local media that discussions on the issue between the two sides were still ongoing.