ANKARA, July 21. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he expects to restart the grain deal in the near future, adding that Ankara will continue to conduct phone diplomacy with Moscow.

"We will use all diplomacy tools and concentrate all our efforts on this issue. <…> Upon returning to Turkey, I will hold talks with Mr. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. We will mostly conduct phone diplomacy," TRT television quoted Erdogan as telling Turkish media during a flight.

"If Mr. Putin’s visit scheduled for August does take place, we will discuss these issues in detail. I believe we will make sure the Black Sea Grain Initiative is extended, without delaying this process," Erdogan added.

According to the Turkish leader, under the grain deal, more than 33 million metric tons of grain was delivered to global markets, which "prevented a food crisis, whose consequences would be much worse than the outcome of the global pandemic or an economic crisis."

The grain deal expired on July 17. Russia had agreed to extend the agreement to provide a shipping corridor across the Black Sea for vessels carrying Ukrainian grain several times since it had been signed last July, but said that the Russia-related provisions of the deal, which called for removing obstacles to Russian farm exports, had not been fulfilled. Moscow also pointed out that, although the agreements were intended to direct food supplies to the poorest countries, most Ukrainian grain shipments went to wealthy Western countries. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Moscow was ready to return to the deal, but only after the Russia-related provisions were fulfilled.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that it would view all ships going across the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports as carrying military cargoes, starting from the coming midnight, in a move that follows the expiration of the Black Sea grain deal. It said the flag states of such ships will be viewed as participating in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of Kiev.