Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had held a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Kiev, discussing the grain export agreement, its extension and expansion.
"As I understand it, we are talking about the wishes of the Ukrainian side — we have a negative attitude to this," Vershinin said, commenting on what Russia thinks about expanding the deal.
Moscow proceeds from the fact that the UN and the UN secretariat should maintain a neutral objective position, the diplomat added.
Vershinin highlighted that Russia has decided to extend the grain deal only for 60 days due to the lack of progress in the issue of the supply of Russian food and fertilizers.
Moscow took note of the UN efforts aimed at unblocking exports of Russian food and fertilizers, the diplomat said. At the same time, Moscow notes that Russian shipping companies and banks continue to face sanctions and barriers introduced by Washington, Brussels and London that supposedly do not apply to Russian food and fertilizers.
"As you know, 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 the implementation of the ... agreements that were signed in Istanbul. This explains why the Russian side decided to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative not for the initial 120 days, but for 60 days," Vershinin told reporters.