Date announced for grain corridor talks
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin announced that a high-level four-way meeting on the Black Sea grain corridor agreement will be held in Istanbul on 10 and 11 May.
The news appeared on the Russian RIA news agency.
As the critically important May 18 date for the extension of the grain corridor agreement approaches, Ukraine stated at the beginning of the week that Russia had effectively rendered the corridor inoperable.
In the statement made by Ukraine’s ministry responsible for restructuring, “Russian Federation has once again effectively stopped the ‘grain initiative’ by refusing to register and carry out inspections of newly arrived ships. This approach contradicts the terms of the current agreement.”
Russia announced that it would not extend the agreement allowing the export of Ukraine’s grain beyond 18 May unless the obstacles to Russia’s own grain and fertilizer exports are removed.
