ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2023) Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has discussed the situation around the Black Sea Grain Initiative with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the phone, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
"Today (on July 17), Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a phone conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. During the conversation, the latest events related to Istanbul's grain deal were discussed," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that grain deal was de facto terminated, however Moscow would immediately return to its implementation as soon as the commitments toward Moscow are fulfilled.
Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations struck a package agreement to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships carrying food and fertilizer from Ukrainian Black Sea ports on July 22, 2022. Despite having since agreed to several extensions to the grain deal, which is now due to expire on Monday, Moscow has been pointing out that the deal's component on the facilitation of Russian grain and fertilizer exports was not being fulfilled.
