MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. Ukraine offers to "forget about the Russians" in response to UN attempts to restore the grain deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a roundtable on settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

"When some our colleagues, including managers of the UN Secretariat, say that everything will be fine with the Russian deal, no one pay attention that the Kiev regime says in response: ‘we will never agree on restoration of this deal so that Russian food and fertilizer will be exempted from the illegal sanctions’," Lavrov noted. "That is, the UN is knocking on this door, and Ukraine says - forget about the Russians."

On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said during a press conference that he will personally meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the high-level week, which will take place on September 19-25 in New York, in order to discuss the restoration of the grain deal, among other things.

The grain deal - an agreement on establishment of a corridor for ship carrying Ukrainian grain, signed in July, 2022 - ended on July 18. Russia notified Turkey, Ukraine and the UN about an objection to its extension. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the deal’s conditions regarding Russia were not being implemented, despite the UN efforts, because Western states had no intention to fulfill their promises. The Russian leader pointed it out repeatedly that the West exported the majority of Ukrainian grain to their own states, while the deal’s main goal - shipments to countries in need - was not achieved. Nevertheless, Moscow stated its readiness to return to the deal, but it must be fulfilled in the part regarding Russia.