Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin announced Russia’s decision to extend the grain deal for only 60 days due to the lack of progress in the supply of Russian food and fertilizers.
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Vershinin assures that this decision is not related to the situation in Turkey and Moscow took note of the UN efforts aimed at unblocking domestic exports. At the same time, Russian shipping companies and banks continue to face sanctions and barriers imposed by Washington, Brussels and London, although they claimed that the restrictions did not affect Russia.
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“There has already been an extension of the Ukrainian part of the unified package for another 120 days. But we see that there are no changes, we see that there are no results. In this situation, we cannot continue the work, as if everything is going smoothly, without failures and without distortions in performance those interconnected agreements that were signed in Istanbul. This explains why the Russian side decided to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative not for 120, but for 60 days,” Vershinin said.
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“This decision of ours is linked to the fact that, in our opinion, this period is sufficient to achieve progress in the implementation of the provisions stipulated by the memorandum between Russia and the UN, not in words, but in deeds,” the diplomat explained.
