The agreement negotiated by Turkey and the UN allowing Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea expires today
Today the UN-brokered agreement allowing Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea expires. The last ship left Odessa port on Sunday morning. So far, the parties involved in resolving this issue, the UN and Turkey, have not made any statement on the fate of this document.
A UN spokesman said on Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was awaiting a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin on the proposed extension of the agreement.
The other day, Antonio Guterres reportedly proposed to the Kremlin to extend the grain deal in exchange for connecting a branch of the Agricultural Bank of Russia to the SWIFT system, Reuters reports, citing three sources. According to British journalists, reconnecting Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT international payments network is Russia's key condition for extending the grain deal.
Moscow has so far said it refuses to do so until it gets something in return: namely the partial lifting of international sanctions and allowing fertiliser exports from Russia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the other hand, has said Putin "agrees" to extend the agreement on grain exports through the Black Sea.
"We are preparing to welcome Putin in August and we agree to extend the grain corridor in the Black Sea, which allows Ukraine to export its production," Erdogan said recently.
On Monday, 17 July, the agreement between Russia and Ukraine allowing Ukrainian grain exports on the Black Sea expires. The Turkey-UN brokered deal last year has already been extended four times.
