Moscow greenlighted the extension of the Black Sea grain initiative for two months, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
"We confirm the announcement made by the Turkish President of a two-month extension of the Black Sea grain initiative. This gives us a chance not in words, but in actions to help ensure global food security," Zakharova told a briefing.
Earlier in the day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the extension of the Black Sea grain deal for another two months.
Russia believes that discrepancies in the implementation of the deal should be corrected as soon as possible, the spokeswoman added.
"Our principled assessments of the Istanbul agreements of 2022 have not changed, and the discrepancies in the implementation should be corrected as quickly as possible," Zakharova said.
Addressing the extension, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzya stressed that Moscow expects its demands regading the agreement to be met.
"Because we still do not lose hope that the problems that we are raising will be sorted out. The sooner the better," Nebenzya told reporters.
The deal was reached by Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye and the UN on July 22, 2022 to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships carrying food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
The accord envisions the unblocking of Russian exports of food and fertilizers, the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT, the resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services, the restoration of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and a number of other measures. Moscow, however, repeatedly noted this part of the package agreement has not been implemented yet and demanded the other side to keep their part of the deal