Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday, March 18, the extension of a grain deal allowing Ukraine to export its food products blocked by the Russian fleet in Black Sea ports, BBC reports.
“The term of the grain deal, which expires on March 19, has been extended. We secured the extension for a new term of the agreement thanks to the negotiations that we had with the two parties,” Erdogan said, speaking in the western city of Canakkale.
The Turkish President did not specify for how long the grain agreement was extended.
The Russian authorities wanted to extend the deal for two months, Kyiv and the UN insisted on four. The present “grain deal”, expiring on the night from Saturday to Sunday, was also concluded for four months.
As Ukrainian Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov wrote on Twitter, the deal has been extended for 120 days, that is, for four months.
At the same time, Russia notified the parties to the “grain deal” that it agreed to extend this agreement for 60 days, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
“We are seeing messages from the parties to the ‘grain deal’ that the deal has been extended for 120 days,” Zakharova said.