ANKARA, July 17. /TASS/. Russia has made the right decision to suspend its participation in the grain deal, former Turkish trade representative in Russia Aydin Sezer told TASS.
"I actually believe that the step taken by Russia is the right one. It can be assumed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will raise the issue of the grain deal during his contacts with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Erdogan will make efforts to achieve concrete results," he pointed out.
Earlier on Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS that Russia had officially notified Turkey, Ukraine and the UN Secretariat of its objections to the extension of the grain deal.
The agreements on food exports from Ukraine were signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022 for 120 days and then extended three times. One of the agreements facilitates the procedure for exporting grain from ports controlled by Kiev. The other part deals with access to world markets for Russian agricultural products and fertilizers. Its provisions remain unfulfilled to this day. On May 18, Russia announced for the last time that it would extend the agreement for 60 days, until July 17, warning that this period of time would be sufficient to clearly assess the implementation of its terms.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that during all the months that the grain deal was in effect, not a single clause of the Russian part of the deal "was fulfilled," while the export of Ukrainian food was guaranteed. Moreover, grain from Ukraine was not exported to the poorest countries, but mainly to the West, the top Russian diplomat added.