Russia to decide by Nov. 18 if grain-shipment deal will be extended: Foreign Ministry

By Dmitri Chirciu

MOSCOW (AA) – Russia will decide by Nov. 18 whether to extend the timeline of a grain-shipment deal in accordance with the existing data, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Thursday.

Maria Zakharova cited that part of the agreement related to the shipment of Russian grain and fertilizers has not been implemented.

"We can't see the results in this regard. This is a fact. This situation is not suitable for us,” she said at a news conference in Moscow. “We have expressed this at all levels. The agreement was made in the form of a package, and all parts need to be implemented.”

"Here we are talking about Russian food and fertilizers, which we will be happy to supply to the countries that need it under the agreement," she said.

“Accounts in certain banks are blocked and therefore payments cannot be paid. This happened because of the sanctions of the West,” she said. “If we had been paid, we could have shipped the products. However, this is not happening.”

Türkiye, the UN, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement in July in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports. The shipments were paused after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February.

Turning to Palestine, she stressed that "the use of violence, settlement policy and unilateral revision of the holy status of Jerusalem complicate the situation."

"We think that this impasse cycle will be resolved by the resumption of negotiations between Palestine and Israel, the restoration of international interaction, in particular, within the framework of the Middle East Quartet (Russia, the US, the EU, the UN)," she said.

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of 2022, the heaviest toll in the occupied West Bank, according to the UN.

*Writing by Merve Berker