MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. The Russian side considers the concept of Istanbul package agreements and the extension of the grain deal in March without concrete results unreasonable, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said in an interview with RTVI on Monday.
Asked about the prospects of the grain deal to be extended in March for the next 120 days, the diplomat noted that Russia’s stance on the issue remained unchanged. "Without tangible results on the implementation of the Russia-UN memorandum, first of all on real removal of sanctions restrictions from Russia’s agriculture exports, the concept of Istanbul package agreements and just the extension of the Ukrainian document are unreasonable," he said.
"The Black Sea initiative" on supply of Ukrainian food adopted on July 22 of last year in Istanbul was initially planned for 120 days (until November 18, 2022), Vershinin noted. "Later, as the sides did not object, the agreement was extended for another 120 days, until March 18 of this year. The Russia-UN memorandum on normalization of domestic agriculture exports expires after three years," he added.