BERLIN, July 17 Germany took note of Moscow's decision and urges the Russian side to extend the grain deal for a longer period, it said in a statement. Monday, Cabinet spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann.
«We have taken note of the Kremlin's statement and continue to call for another extension of the grain deal,» she told reporters.
Hoffmann also asked for a longer deal than before.
Earlier on Monday, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that the agreements on the grain deal were actually terminated, it was stopped, the Russian Federation would immediately return to its implementation after the Russian part of the conditions was fulfilled.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a conversation with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, said that the obligations to remove obstacles to the export of Russian food and fertilizers have not been fulfilled. Putin stressed during the conversation that the main goal of the deal, namely the supply of grain to countries in need, including on the African continent, has not been realized.
The Black Sea Initiative, which was signed on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN, involves the export of Ukrainian grain and food, as well as fertilizers across the Black Sea from three ports, including Odessa. The coordination of vessel traffic is handled by the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul. Putin pointed out that the West exports most of the Ukrainian grain to their own states, and not to the needy African countries. The grain initiative is an integral part of the package agreement. The second part — the Russia-UN memorandum, designed for three years — provides for the unblocking of Russian exports of food and fertilizers; other measures. As noted in Moscow, this part of the package agreement has not yet been implemented.