Lebanese Minister of Transport and Public Works Ali Hamieh

Russia will grant Lebanon 10,000 tons of fuel and 25,000 tons of wheat, Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transport in the caretaker government, Ali Hamieh, said on Monday.

According to Hamieh, the details of the two packages will be disclosed within two days.

"Russia will grant Lebanon 10,000 tons of fuel for the benefit of the electricity plants," Hamieh told the Russian Sputnik news agency.

"Russia will grant Lebanon 25,000 tons of wheat," he added, noting that "in two days, we will announce the details of the two Russian donations."

Lebanon has been suffering from a stifling economic crisis that has been worsening since 2019, with the Lebanese pound collapsing and losing about 95% of its value. The reasons go back to the corruption in the state institutions, Lebanese media agencies say, and to the sanctions imposed by the United States on Lebanese banks.

Read: Exclusive: US ordered economic collapse in Lebanon - Bassil

In August 2021, President Michel Aoun received a phone call from Dorothy Shea, US Ambassador to Lebanon, in which she informed him of her administration's decision to “continue to assist Lebanon in importing electrical energy from Jordan through Syria.”.

Despite the approval of the concerned countries, namely Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, the failure of the United States to exclude this project from Caesar’s Act sanctions imposed on Damascus has led to freezing it thus far.

In the meantime, the hours of electricity feeding through the state electricity company in various parts of the Lebanese state have reached Less than two hours a day.

Since the explosion of the port of Beirut in August 2020 which caused the destruction of the central wheat silos in the country, Lebanon has also been unable to store large quantities of wheat.

The Russian donation, in the event of success, will constitute an important factor in restoring electricity to the country, whose economy is based largely on private generators, and in supporting the availability and prices of bread in Lebanese bakeries.

The donation will be added to the Iraqi and Iranian donations of fuel and oil derivatives, which arrived in Lebanon earlier this year.

Read: Iraq to supply Lebanon with fuel for another year: Lebanon PM