JPMorgan Stops Access To Russian Food Export Payments

PHOTO OF ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH/William William

JPMorgan stopped access to Russian fertilizer export payments after Moscow withdrew from the Hitam Sea food agreement, said US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield.

The US has allowed JPMorgan to facilitate payments for Russian agricultural exports via the Russian Agricultural Bank.

"It is part of the deal, which is to provide assistance to Russian fertilizers in reaching the market. If they (Russia) are not bound by the agreement, then part of the deal doesn't work anymore," Thomas Greenfield told reporters.

Russia left the agreement on July 17 with parts of the agreement related to Russia's demands so far not enforced.

Russia has pointed to demands for eliminating obstacles to its fertilizer exports, including bringing Russia's Agricultural Bank into the SWIFT international payment system.

"We see signs they may be interested in re-entering the negotiations, so we'll just have to wait to see if that really happened," Thomas-Greenfield said. "We were told they were willing to re-negotiate, but we haven't seen the evidence yet."

"If they want their fertilizers to be sold in the market... they must re-enter the agreement," he continued.

The agreement, which was signed in Istanbul in July 2022 by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, created a safe corridor through the Black Sea for exports from three Ukrainian ports that had stalled since the war began in February that year.

The deal helped control soaring prices and ease the global food crisis, after the export flow of wheat, solar flower oil, fertilizer and other products from Ukraine went smoothly. Ukraine is one of the largest food exporters in the world.