Turkey is holding consultations with the UN on lifting restrictions on the Russian agricultural exports within the Black Sea grain initiative. A diplomatic source in Ankara told TASS on Tuesday on the eve of the upcoming June 9 consultations in Geneva on a memorandum between Russia and the UN under the grain deal.
"We have done this work before, we are making efforts now to ensure that the requirements of the Russian side on the export of agricultural products, as well as ammonia were fulfilled, and thus the Istanbul agreements on the deal were fully implemented. The Russian side has already warned that it may not extend the deal after July 17, we will work with the parties involved to prevent such a situation," the source said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin told reporters on Monday that Moscow sees no prospect for the grain deal to be extended, but will continue consultations with UN representatives on the Istanbul arrangements.
The grain deal was extended for two months from May 18. The Russian foreign ministry earlier stressed that the part of the agreement regarding obligations to Moscow is not being fulfilled. Moscow insists on restoring access of Russian vessels to foreign ports, normalization of the situation with dry cargo insurance, reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT interbank payment system and launch of the Tolyatti - Odessa ammonia pipeline. As for extending the deal, Moscow expressed the hope that its terms will be observed, otherwise there is a risk that the agreements will not be extended.
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Based on materials from TASS