UNITED NATIONS, September 23. /TASS/. The Russian side has explained to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres why his proposals on the grain deal cannot work, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"We have explained to the [UN] Secretary General why his proposals won't work. We do not ignore them, they are simply impossible to implement," the top diplomat told a Reuters reporter who asked whether Russia could be considered to have ‘rejected’ the UN Secretary General's proposals on the grain deal.

"If you want to write some nasty things and you like the word 'reject', that's your choice," Lavrov told the reporter. "Next time, write the truth," the foreign minister said.

The grain deal expired on July 17, 2023. Russia, which has extended the July 2022 agreement on the Black Sea corridor for ships carrying Ukrainian grain several times, recalled that the part of the deal that concerned Russia - the removal of obstacles to agricultural exports - had not been implemented. Moscow also pointed out that although the agreements were intended to send food to the poorest countries, most of Ukraine's grain went to developed Western countries. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was ready to return to the agreement, but only if the part concerning Moscow was implemented.