Russia says grain deal extension ‘directly depends’ on easing restrictions on its exports

(Reuters) – Russia on Monday told a top United Nations representative that the extension of a landmark Black Sea grain deal was dependent on the West easing Russia’s own agricultural and fertiliser exports, the defence ministry said in a statement.

In a meeting in Moscow, Russia’s deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin told U.N. Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths that extending the deal, which unlocked Ukrainian agricultural exports from its southern ports, “directly depends on ensuring full implementation of all previously reached agreements.”

Russia says the impact of Western sanctions on logistics, payments, shipping and insurance prevents it from exporting fertilisers and chemicals like ammonia and that easing those restrictions was a key part of the deal, brokered in July by Turkey and the United Nations.

(Reporting by Reuters)