Kremlin Says Conditions Not Ripe for Grain Deal Extension

Circumstances are not yet in favor of extending the Black Sea grain export deal, the Kremlin said on Tuesday after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the issue.

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So much time has passed but the part of the deal regarding the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers has not been implemented, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that the "Black Sea Grain Initiative" has "a package nature" and Russia will continue to monitor its implementation.

In July 2022, Russia and Ukraine separately signed a document in Istanbul with Türkiye and the United Nations on grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia to ensure supplies to global markets amid the Ukraine crisis.

The initial 120-day agreement was extended by another 120 days in November 2022 and then by 60 days last month.

During a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York on Monday, Guterres presented Lavrov with a letter to Putin, outlining a proposed way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion of the deal.

On Tuesday, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev blasted the West for ignoring Russia's security concerns and refusing an equal partnership for years.

"The so-called Western world has been unfair to our country in many ways and is not ready for an equal partnership," Medvedev said.

"We have repeatedly asked our former partners, now whom we often even call enemies, to hear our security concerns that were formed following the demise of the Soviet Union. But they simply ridiculed us in a certain sense throughout all these years, tried to wear us down and weaken us, surrounded us with new military bases belonging to the same military bloc that was at enmity with our former country for decades," he added.