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April 23 (Reuters) - Former Russian president Dmitry
Medvedev said on Sunday that if the G7 moved to ban exports to
Russia, Moscow would respond by terminating the Black Sea Grain
deal that enables vital exports of grain from Ukraine.
The Group of Seven (G7) countries are considering a
near-total ban on exports to Russia, Japan's Kyodo news agency
reported last week, citing Japanese government sources. Russia
has repeatedly threatened to scrap its participation in the
grain deal, which is due to expire on May 18.
"This idea from the idiots at the G7 about a total ban
of exports to our country by default is beautiful in that it
implies a reciprocal ban on imports from our country, including
categories of goods that are the most sensitive for the G7,"
Medvedev said in a post on his Telegram channel.
"In such a case, the grain deal - and many other things that
they need - will end for them," he added.
The G7 is reportedly discussing reversing its sanctions
approach so that exports to Russia are automatically banned
unless they are included on a designated list of products
allowed to be shipped to the country. Under the current
framework, goods are allowed to be sold to Russia unless they
are explicitly black-listed.
Medvedev, a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir
Putin, is Putin's deputy chair at the influential Security
Council and heads a government commission on arms production for
the war in Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly rallied against the terms of the
Black Sea grain deal - the only significant diplomatic
breakthrough of the 14-month conflict in Ukraine. It has said it
will walk away from the initiative ahead of a May 18 deadline if
the West does not lift restrictions on Russian agricultural and
fertiliser exports.
The G7 called on Sunday for the "extension, full
implementation and expansion" of the deal to export Ukrainian
grain through the Black Sea, the group's agriculture ministers
said in a communique.
(Reporting by Jake Cordell; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Susan
Fenton)
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