Russian leaders have agreed to extend a deal that allows Ukrainian grain exports to leave through the Black Sea, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday.
The United Nations and Turkey first brokered the Black Sea agreement last July to relieve a growing global food shortage exacerbated by Russia’s refusal to let Ukrainian exports leave for months. Despite repeated extensions, Russia had threatened to pull out of the deal this week unless concessions were made.
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The new deal will extend for two months, until July 18. The initial agreement lasted for 120 days, which they then extended for the same time period. It was renewed for another 60 days on March 18, and that extension was set to expire this week.
“I want to give a good news,” Erdogan said, according to the Associated Press. “With the efforts of our country, the support of our Russian friends and the contribution of our Ukrainian friends, the Black Sea Grain Initiative has been extended by another two months.”
Russia’s demands concerned its exports and the disconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank from the Swift payment system, though it’s unclear what concessions, if any, were given to the Russians to extend the deal.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Ukrainian minister of communities, territories, and infrastructure development, confirmed the grain deal has been extended, saying on Facebook, “The grain deal has been unblocked and will continue to be in effect until July 18. The world will continue to receive Ukrainian products thanks to the efforts of our partners in the agreement — Turkey and the UN.”
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Ambassador Jim O’Brien, head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination at the U.S. Department of State, said last week that Ukraine’s exports “dropped to effectively zero from almost 6 million tons a month” when Russia invaded. “That’s food for millions of people.”
But, over the last year or so with the deal in place, Ukraine was able to export nearly 56 million tons of grain, about 29 million tons of which came through the Black Sea Grain Initiative; the remainder were direct exports through the European Union solidarity lanes, he added.
