Another round of talks on a grain deal has reached an impasse, The Guardian reported, citing UN deputy spokesman Farhan Hak. Haq’s statement on the organization’s website said that representatives from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN, which is part of the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, have not reached an agreement to allow new ships to participate in the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Haq noted that daily inspections of previously authorized vessels continue.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has sent proposals to all participants to improve and expand the deal based on their positions, Haq added.
“The UN encourages all parties to continue discussions, overcome operational difficulties and work toward full implementation and continuation of the initiative,” he stressed. The Kremlin has previously said it is not discussing an expansion of the deal.
According to Haq, technical talks convened by Turkiye took place in Istanbul on May 5, and a high-level meeting will be held next week.
The grain deal, which approved a mechanism for exporting grain from Ukrainian ports, was signed in Istanbul in June 2022. The second part of the agreement concerns the removal of obstacles for the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers. The initiative was extended in November for 120 days. In March Russia agreed to prolong the agreement again, but only for 60 days, i.e., until May 18. The other participants, as well as Western states, are calling for an extension.
The Kremlin earlier said it considered the prospects for extending the agreement “not very good,” because some of the agreements have not been implemented. The Russian Foreign Ministry listed five “systemic problems” without solving which the extension of the deal is impossible. Among them are reconnecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, resuming deliveries of agricultural machinery to Russia and unblocking foreign assets of Russian companies related to production.
The Turkish side called Russia’s claims justified and said it was discussing the possibility of reconnecting Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT. However, Ankara doubts that Western countries would agree to this condition. As an alternative, Guterres suggested conducting transactions on the deal through a Turkish intermediary bank.
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