The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced on Wednesday the extension of the agreement to export grain from Ukraine by sea, which expired tomorrow, for another two more months.
"Thanks to the efforts of our country, the support of our Russian friends and the participation of our Ukrainian friends, it has been decided to extend the Black Sea grain corridor agreement for another two months," Erdogan wrote on Twitter.
The Turkish president thanked the "sincere support" of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the "constructive collaboration" of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodímir Zelenski, and the "efforts" of the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres.
He added that work is also being done to create the conditions for the pact to continue after that period and expressed his hope of reaching a lasting ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine leading to a peace agreement.
On March 18, Moscow extended the "grain agreement" for only 60 days, signed on July 2, 2022 for 120 days, extendable for the same period, arguing that the commitments with the Russian side are not being met.
Russia denounces that its exports, the facilitation of which was agreed with the United Nations and Turkey in parallel to the pact to release Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports, are facing difficulties, especially due to the collateral effects of the sanctions that the West has imposed on it for its aggression against Ukraine.
The Kremlin demands free access to ports and the unblocking of the accounts and assets abroad of Russian companies linked to the production and transport of food and fertilizers, among other aspects.
To date, 30 million tons of agricultural products have been exported under the agreement, half of them corn and almost a third wheat, with China and Spain as the main recipients.
In his statement on Wednesday, Erdogan also thanked Russia for promising not to hinder the exit of Turkish ships trapped in the ports of Mikolaiv and Olvia, both located in the lower reaches of the Bug River, fifty kilometers from the Kherson city in Ukraine.
The Russian invasion initially trapped 26 Turkish-owned cargo ships in Ukrainian ports, of which twelve are still moored, mainly at the Kherson and Mikolaiv docks, awaiting a diplomatic solution.
