Russian and Turkish Deputy Foreign Ministers discuss situation around grain deal — MFA
MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin had a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Burak Akcapar discussing the situation around the grain deal, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday.
The conversation took place on Wednesday at the initiative of the Turkish side.
"An exchange of views took place on the situation around the Black Sea initiative to export Ukrainian food after its completion following the failure to implement the Russia-UN memorandum on normalizing the supply of domestic agricultural products to world markets," the ministry said.
On Wednesday, Vershinin also had a conversation with Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebeca Grynspan.
"The parties discussed the implementation of the Russia-UN memorandum on the normalization of domestic agricultural exports, designed for 3 years, in the context of tasks to ensure global food security," the Russian Foreign Ministry informed. They also specified that the conversation took place on the initiative of the Secretary General of UNCTAD.
On Wednesday, in a telephone conversation with his Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow was ready to return to the grain deal as soon as its conditions are fulfilled by the West.
The grain deal ended on July 17. Last week, speaking at the plenary session of the Russia-Africa forum, Putin said that Russia had originally agreed to participate in the deal on the condition that its terms to remove illegitimate obstacles to the supply of grain and fertilizers from Russia to world markets would be observed. But none of these conditions was met.
