ANKARA, July 13./TASS/. The Turkish Defense Ministry continues to maintain contacts with Russia, the UN and Ukraine on the issue of extending the Black Sea Initiative grain deal, Defense Ministry Spokesperson Zeki Akturk told journalists on Thursday.

"We continue to be in contact with officials of the UN, the Russian Federation and Ukraine regarding the extension of the grain initiative, which expires on July 17, in coordination with the [Turkish] Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As of today, about 33 million metric tons of grain have been exported from Ukrainian ports to world markets on more than a thousand ships. Our country is ready to facilitate and will continue to take constructive initiatives on this issue," the TRT TV channel quoted the spokesman as saying.

Meanwhile, the channel’s sources at the Turkish Defense Ministry specified that "all work in focused on the extension of the grain deal, no other work is being done."

On July 22, 2022, a package of documents on the supply of food and fertilizers to the international market was signed in Istanbul. Initially, the agreements were concluded for 120 days, but in November of last year they were extended for another 120-day period. On March 18, 2023, Russia announced it had agreed to a 60-day extension of the deal, while warning that this should provide sufficient time to evaluate the implementation of the memorandum signed with the UN.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the part of the agreement covering obligations to Moscow is not being fulfilled.

In particular, Russia has insisted on restoring the access of its ships to foreign ports, normalizing the situation with the insurance of dry cargo ships, and reconnecting the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT interbank payment system.

On June 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that at the moment he sees no arguments in favor of extending the agreements.