Turkey still hopeful of extension of grain deal: Defense Minister

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Turkey is hoping that the grain export deal between Kiev and Moscow can be extended for another 120 days -- but time is running out.

The current deal expires just before midnight on Saturday, Istanbul time.

"The deadline is approaching," Turkey's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Friday, noting that his country is "in touch with both Ukraine and Russia about extending the agreement under its original terms."

The start of the Ukraine war in February 2022 saw Ukraine's Black Sea ports blocked by warships. But a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022 -- and signed by Kiev and Moscow -- has allowed for the safe passage of exports of critical grain supplies.

The original terms of the Black Sea Grain initiative that Akar referred to -- according to the deal -- were for the 120-day extensions to be automatically renewed for the same period unless one of the parties says otherwise.

The initial agreement was extended in November until March 18, and should -- in theory -- be extended another 120 days after it expires at 11:59 pm Istanbul time Saturday (2059 GMT).

Russia proposes a 60-day extension

On Monday, after a meeting with senior UN officials in Geneva, Moscow announced a proposal to extend the agreement for only 60 days.

Kiev claimed that the proposal departed from the period provided for in the original agreement, though Ukrainian officials were careful not to reject it out of hand.

By Friday, no one was able to say with any certainty what would happen when the deadline expired.

"We very much hope that the initiative will continue and the ships will continue to flow," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Read more: UN chief Guterres from Kiev says to extend Grain Deal is 'critical'

Agreement on Russian food, fertilizer exports not respected

Moscow decided to shorten the deal's extension due to its concerns that a parallel agreement on Russian food and fertilizer exports was not being respected.

Under that deal, also signed in July 2022 with the UN, those products were supposed to be exempt from the sanctions applied against Russia by Kiev's allies.

But this was not happening, Moscow complained.

"Our further stance will be determined upon the tangible progress on normalization of our agricultural exports, not (in) words, but in deeds," made clear Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin, who led the Russian delegation during Monday's talks with UN officials.

This includes "bank payments, transport logistics, insurance, and unfreezing of financial activities and ammonia supplies via the Tolyatti-Odessa pipeline", Vershinin indicated.

Read more: West unlikely to facilitate Russia grain exports under deal: Official

Poorest countries received only about 3% of food supplies

On his part, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya highlighted that the poorest countries received only about 3% of food supplies as part of the grain deal.

"We and many others have a lot of questions about the implementation of the so-called grain initiative, which is designed to facilitate the export of grain from Ukrainian ports," Nebenzya said at a UN Security Council meeting on Friday.

"The main one is why it suddenly turned from a humanitarian into a commercial one? After all, statistics clearly indicate this," the Russian official added.

"Its influence on food prices in the world is highly debatable. Meanwhile, the poorest countries received not 66% or 65% of supplies, as they said today here in this hall, but only about 3%," he noted.

In response, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov claimed that "Russia's position to extend the deal only for 60 (days) contradicts the document signed by Turkey & the UN."

"We're waiting for the official position of (the UN and Turkey) as the guarantors of the initiative," Kubrakov said on Twitter. 

UN engaging closely with all parties

The UN has been saying since Monday that it is doing everything it can to save the agreement, which has helped bring the explosion in food prices under control.

On Friday, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths repeated that message, saying, "We continue to engage closely with all parties."

More than 29.1 million tonnes of grain have left Ukraine's ports since the original deal was signed last July, while only a fraction of the 260,000 tonnes of Russian fertilizer stored in European ports has been released.

In the meantime, wheat and corn prices have returned to their pre-war levels, although oilseeds such as rapeseed and sunflower are much lower.