ANKARA, May 3. /TASS/. Grain supplies within the grain initiative will be suspended if the meeting of representatives of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul on May 5 bears no fruit, Turkish President's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday.

"The meeting between Turkey, Russia and Ukraine on May 5 in Istanbul is very important from the viewpoint of the future of grain corridor. If it brings no positive result grain supplies may be suspended as early as on May 18," Kalin was quoted as saying by Ihlas news agency. In the event of failure and "the lack of positive decision [following the Istanbul meeting] in the area of global food supplies major difficulties may arise," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced plans to hold a meeting between delegations from Turkey, Russia and Ukraine on the grain deal in Istanbul on May 5. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the prospects of extension of the deal were uncertain and depended on Russia’s requirements.

Agreements on the export of food from Ukraine were concluded on July 22, 2022, for 120 days and extended in November for the same period. One of the agreements regulates the order of grain supplies from the Kiev-controlled ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. Moreover, a memorandum was inked by Russia and the UN on lifting export restrictions for Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to global markets. Moscow notes that the second part of the agreement is not being implemented. On March 18, Russia announced that the deal was being extended for 60 days, warning that this would be enough time to assess the efficacy of the memorandum signed with the UN.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also noted that the future decision on the deal’s extension would depend on connection of Rosselkhozbank back to SWIFT, resumption of supplies of agriculture equipment, components and service maintenance, lifting of restrictions on insurance and reinsurance, lifting of the ban on access to ports, resumption of the work of Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, unfreezing of foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies related to production and transportation of food and fertilizers.