ANKARA, July 17. /TASS/. The situation around the grain deal was the focus of telephone talks between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, a source in the Turkish foreign ministry told TASS on Monday.
"The sides exchanged views on the recent developments linked with the grain deal," the source said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier that Fidan would discuss the grain deal with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Monday.
A package of documents geared to resolve the problem of food and fertilizer supplies on global markets was signed on July 22, 2022 in Istanbul and extended several times since then before ultimately expiring on July 17. Russia refused to extend it again because the part of the deal envisaging the removal of obstacles for Russian agricultural exports has never been implemented. Apart from that, Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the bulk of grain that was meant to be supplied to the poorest counties was shipped to Western countries. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is ready to resurrect the deal but only after its part related to obligations to Moscow is fulfilled.