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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday welcomed that Russia resumed its participation in the Black Sea grain initiative and commended Turkey for mediating the deal revival.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that after his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and talks between the Turkish and Russian defense ministers, an agreement had been reached on restoring the grain transport corridor in the Black Sea. The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that Russia was resuming participation in the grain deal.

"I welcome the continuation of the UN grain agreement and Turkey’s effort to maintain this lifeline on which hundreds or millions of people around the world depend," Stoltenberg said during a joint press conference with Turkish Minster of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Stoltenberg also commended Erdogan and Cavusoglu for their role in mediating the revival of the grain deal.

"I commend Turkey for what they have done. I also commend the president and the foreign minister for their latest efforts to ensure that after the suspension we saw in the weekend the grain deal is functioning and enforced again and also agree with the Foreign Minister Cavusoglu that it is important that the grain deal is renewed and extended," Stoltenberg added.

On Saturday, Russia suspended its participation in the UN-mediated grain deal after its ships were attacked by Ukraine in the Black Sea. On Wednesday, the Russian defense ministry said that Moscow was returning to the deal after receiving Ukrainian written guarantees on refraining from using the grain corridor for military purposes, following mediation by Turkey and the UN.

On July 22, Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey signed a UN-brokered initiative to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships exporting food and fertilizer from Ukraine via the Black Sea. The deal will expire on November 19.

IAEA inspectors have completed inspections at three sites in Ukraine following a request from Kiev, they have not identified any undeclared activity there, the agency said in a statement.

Earlier, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, said that the Russian Defense Ministry had information about Kiev's plans to use a "dirty bomb" and blame Moscow for this. This week, IAEA experts began checking Ukrainian facilities following a request from Kiev amid Russia's claims.

"Based on the evaluation of the results available to date and the information provided by Ukraine, the Agency did not find any indications of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at the locations," the organization said in a statement.

The agency's inspectors also collected environmental samples for further analysis at safeguards laboratories.

"Environmental sampling is a commonly used safeguards measure with ultrasensitive analytical techniques that can provide information about past and current activities related to the handling of nuclear materials," the statement read.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the agency was ready to continue conducting inspections in Ukraine to make sure there were no undeclared activities.

"Director General Grossi stressed that the IAEA remained ready to conduct further such verification activities in Ukraine to verify the absence of undeclared activities and materials and thereby deter any misuse of such materials," the IAEA said in the statement.

In late October, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called his counterparts in several Western countries to share Moscow's concerns about the preparation of a dirty bomb in Ukraine, but they rejected the accusations. The Ukrainian authorities also denied the allegations, insisting on their commitment to non-proliferation.

"On November 3, seven ships carrying 290,000 tons of Ukrainian agricultural products left the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne for Asian and European countries," the ministry said on its social media.

The new commitment will bring Microsoft’s total aid contribution to Ukraine to more than $400 million since the beginning of the conflict in February, he added.

Pushilin added that 65 of those released are from the DPR and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR).

Russia resumed its work at the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center on Thursday and joined inspections under the grain deal, with eight vessels now transiting the humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea, the UN Secretariat at the JCC said in a statement.

"Today, the Russian Federation delegation resumed its work at the JCC and joined vessel inspections," the statement said.

Seven vessels carrying a total of 290,102 metric tons of grain and food products are transiting the maritime humanitarian corridor under the Black Sea Grain Initiative on Thursday.

"In addition, there is an inbound vessel transiting with destination Yuzhny/Pivdennyi," the secretariat said.

The resumption of Russia's participation in the grain deal does not mean it was extended, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, noting that the deal did not expire yet.

"No, it does not [mean its extension]. Of course, we still have to discuss the topic of the extension officially, the deadline has not yet expired, it is still valid ... by [November] 19, before making a decision to extend, of course, it will be necessary to assess the effectiveness of the deal," Peskov told reporters.

The official also praised Ankara's work on getting written guarantees from Kiev that Ukraine will not use humanitarian corridors under the grain deal for military purpose.

"EU is grateful for role of @UN and Turkiye in Russia’s decision to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Food should never be used as a weapon of war. Grain export is crucial to address global food crisis exacerbated by Russia. Calling on all parties to renew Initiative," Borrell tweeted.

Russia is satisfied that Ukraine provided written guarantees not to repeat attempts to use humanitarian routes in the Black Sea for military purposes, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

"Regarding the grain deal, we were satisfied that at the initiative of Turkey, the Ukrainian leadership signed on paper guarantees not to repeat attempts to use humanitarian routes in the Black Sea for military purposes," Lavrov said at a joint press conference after a meeting with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

Moscow still does not see any progress on unblocking the export of Russian fertilizers and grain under the Black Sea Initiative, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

"As you know, the implementation of the Ukrainian part of the deal has resumed, but at the same time, we still do not see any result in terms of the second part of the package, proposed at the time by UN Secretary-General [Antonio] Guterres and which involves the removal of any obstacles to export routes for Russian fertilizers and grain," Lavrov told reporters during his visit to Jordan.

Serious measures should be taken to unblock the export, the minister added.