MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin will hold a briefing on Moscow’s move to suspend its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 21, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
"Tomorrow, on July 21, the Foreign Ministry will host Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin’s briefing on the Istanbul Agreements made on July 22, 2022. We expect the briefing to begin at about 3:30 p.m. (Moscow time, 12:30 GMT). Everyone will be able to watch it online on the Foreign Ministry’s social media accounts and on its website," Zakharova said at a briefing.
The spokeswoman added that the briefing would be interpreted into English.
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 in July 2022, 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.