The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that there were no grounds for extending the grain deal that expires on July 17. The UN leadership has remained silent on the issues of the sabotage of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and the free delivery of Russian mineral fertilizers to the poorest countries, the ministry said. At the same time, it noted that the West had publicly declared that there could be no easing of sanctions against Russia, including on food and fertilizers.
"Turkiye has been able to secure negotiations on the most important issues. Thanks to the Black Sea Initiative, we were able to bring Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations to the table and avert a global food crisis. Turkey is committed to keeping the initiative alive and we are counting on your support," Fidan told a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement Coordinating Bureau in Baku.
Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye and the United Nations reached an agreement on July 22 to unblock grain and fertilizer exports in the Black Sea amid the military operation launched by Moscow in Ukraine in 2022. The agreement is part of a package deal. The second part — the three-year Russia-UN memorandum — provides for the unblocking of Russian food and fertilizer exports, the restoration of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and a number of other measures. According to Moscow, this part of the package agreement has not yet been implemented.
On June 7, the Russian Defense Ministry said that a Ukrainian sabotage group had blown up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in the Kharkov Region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said the explosion would complicate the extension of the deal.