“RIA Novosti” reported the absence of “encouraging prospects” for the extension of the grain deal

There are no encouraging prospects for extending the grain deal at the moment, the source said. “RIA News”familiar with negotiations. According to the interlocutor of the Russian state agency, “it is possible that progress will be made, but if we are talking about today,” then there are no prospects.

Discussions on the grain deal will resume at the technical level until May 18, the official representative of the UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric said earlier. According to a RIA Novosti source, there will be “negotiations of technical delegations, which, in principle, have been ongoing since the beginning of the mechanism.”

The grain deal, which was concluded between the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN in the summer of 2022, expires on May 18. The agreement involves the opening of Ukrainian ports for the export of grain, as well as the removal of obstacles to the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers. Russia has repeatedly criticized the implementation of the part of the deal that concerns its exports.

More details about the negotiations can be found in Kommersant’s material “The grain is floating away.”

Leonid Uvarchev