Anthony Blinken: Washington meets Russia's grain deal requirements

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Washington had resolved Russia's issues regarding the grain deal.

In an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI), Blinken said that he sent letters to banks in which he indicated that Washington supported the export of Russian grain. Blinken also explained that banks should not be concerned about possible sanctions due to their interaction with Russian grain.

The United Nations submitted its proposals to Russia to resolve Moscow's issues, but the Russian side had not given its answer yet, he added.

On August 4, James O'Brien, the head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination of the Biden administration, said that the US wanted clarify from Russia regarding its requirements to resume the grain deal. Moscow put forward a number of different demands, O'Brien said, and all of them were related to Russian institutions not receiving services from the private sector.

On August 2, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Russia was preparing to revisit the grain deal talks. Kremlin official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was indeed ready to immediately revisit the grain deal, provided Russia's requirements were met accordingly.

In particular, Russia wants the West to reconnect Rosselkhozbank (Russian Agricultural Bank) to SWIFT.