Ministry: No objection to 60-day grain deal extension from parties

MOSCOW, Mar 20 (PRIME) -- Turkey, Ukraine, and the U.N. have made no formal objections against Moscow’s decision to prolong the Black Sea Grain Initiative for 60 days, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Moscow reduced the prolongation period for the grain deal to 60 days from 120 days prolonging it until May 18 from March 18 following the lack of substantive progress in normalization of Russia’s agricultural exports.

“The position was officially communicated to the Turkish and Ukrainian sides of the Black Sea Initiative and also to the U.N. representatives. No formal objections were made. Thus, the agreement stays in force for the next two months in the existing parameters without any changes to the involved ports, the list of cargoes, and the coordinated order of inspections,” the ministry said.

Further prolongation of the deal will depend on the progress of reconnection of Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT interbank messaging system, relaunch of supplies of agricultural equipment, spare parts, and servicing, suspension of restrictions on insurance and reinsurance, lifting of a ban on access to the ports, restart of the Togliatti–Odessa ammonia pipeline, and unblocking of the foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies that produce and transport food and fertilizers.

Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the U.N. signed the deal on July 22, 2022. The deal was to expire on November 18 of the year unless no country objected to an automatic 120-day prolongation, and the deal was prolonged until Saturday, March 18, 2023.

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