MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/. It is impossible to improve something that doesn’t exist, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday, commenting on what can be done to improve the grain deal.

"As for the Russian part of this package, neither of its provisions has ever been implemented. For months, we have been hearing representatives of the UN Secretariat, the secretary general [of the UN Antonio Guterres], his deputies tasked with addressing these matters, saying that they are sparing no effort and are doing their utmost. <…> These efforts have yielded no result whatsoever. So, I don’t know how anything non-existent could be improved," he said after the sixth ministerial meeting of the Russia-GCC strategic dialogue in Moscow.

Lavrov stressed that the Ukrainian part of the deal has turned into a commercial project. "There was a package that was suggested by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. All the provisions of the package’s two parts are well-known. The Ukrainian part of this package was implemented and now it is clear that the Ukrainian part of this package has turned into a commercial project," he said.

"We have repeatedly said that less than three percent of the grain exported from Ukrainian ports goes to the countries which are on the list of the World Food Program, to the poorest countries. Actually, those countries, for the sake of which Antonio Guterres promoted a year ago his initiative, which was eventually approved," Lavrov stressed.

On July 22, 2022, a package of documents on the supply of food and fertilizers to the international market was signed in Istanbul. The agreements were originally concluded for a period of 120 days. They were extended for the same period last November. On March 18, 2023, Russia announced the extension of the deal for 60 days. The grain deal was extended for two more months on May 18. However, Russia warned that this period of time would be enough to see if the memorandum signed with the UN was being implemented.