Russia admits that grain deal was extended without fulfilling its demands

Russia admitted on 18 May that it had agreed to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative, known as the grain agreement, for 60 more days without fulfilling its ultimatum.

Source: European Pravda, referring to the official comment by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia

Details: Moscow confirmed a two-month prolongation "without any changes" of the grain agreement until 17 July inclusively "in response to requests, primarily of Türkiye’s partners as a side of the agreement’.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia repeatedly complained about the Russian part of the grain agreement allegedly being unfulfilled and threatened to suspend its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative after 17 July if its five requirements were not fulfilled.

These requirements include adding the Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT system, resuming the supply of agricultural equipment and service maintenance for it, lifting restrictions on insurance and access to ports, resuming the operation of the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline and lifting the sanctions against the Russian companies in the sector of production and transportation of agricultural products and fertilisers.

These demands are repeating the ultimatum announced by Moscow in March, word for word. Russia threatened to leave the grain agreement after 18 May in case this ultimatum was not fulfilled.

In July 2022, the UN and Türkiye made an agreement about the export of Ukrainian grain by the Black Sea in order to help overcome the global trade crisis caused by the Russian war against Ukraine. The representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye and the UN were included in the Joint Coordinative Centre (JCC) in Istanbul, which manages the fulfilment of the agreement.

On 17 May Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Türkiye, announced that the Black Sea Grain Initiative had been extended for two more months.

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