MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. The West will continue to speculate on the grain deal topic because manipulations and provocations are part of its political culture, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Of course, undoubtedly," she said on Sputnik Radio on Wednesday.

"They cannot do otherwise. All these manipulations, speculations, provocations are part of their political culture, which, unfortunately, has completely replaced everything else: diplomacy, legality, law, even, probably, some pragmatism," Zakharova said, noting that Western fabricators continued to pass off the non-existent as reality.

On Monday, the Russian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Vershinin held talks with the UN, represented by Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. The Russian senior diplomat told reporters after the meeting that Moscow was not against extending the grain deal after March 18, but only for 60 days, not for 120 days as in November 2022. According to him, this term is sufficient to make progress in the implementation of the Russia-UN memorandum on food and fertilizer access to global markets.