MOSCOW (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said the main objective of the deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports to resume was not achieved, in a call with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa.
The deal that eased fears of a global food crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine is due to expire today – unless Russia agrees to renew it.
“The main goal of the deal, namely the supply of grain to countries in need, including on the African continent, has not been implemented,” Putin said according to a Kremlin readout.
A memorandum on unhindered Russian food and fertiliser exports had been signed in parallel to the grain deal.
Russia however said that obstacles to its own exports remain, and threatens to pull out of the grain deal over the issue.
“Vladimir Putin stressed that the obligations recorded in the relevant Russia-United Nations (UN) memorandum to remove obstacles to the export of Russian food and fertilisers still remain unfulfilled,” according to the Kremlin statement.
The South African presidency confirmed Ramaphosa had spoken to Putin following a call with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as well as a phone conversation on Thursday with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had spoken to Putin and was confident he would agree the deal should be extended.
“We are preparing to welcome Putin in August and we agree on the extension of the Black Sea grain corridor,” Erdogan told reporters. But when asked by Russian press agencies, the Kremlin spokesperson did not confirm Erdogan’s claims.
“There is no statement about this from the Russian side,” Dmitry Peskov said.
The deal, which Erdogan helped broker, has allowed Ukraine to ship more than 32 million tonnes of grain past Russian warships in the Black Sea.
