Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he agreed with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to extend an agreement to export Ukrainian grain to the Black Sea, but the Kremlin later clarified that it had made no such statement.

Erdogan and Putin in 2022Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofiev / AP / Profimedia

Responding to questions from reporters, Erdogan said he hoped the agreement would be extended beyond the current deadline of July 17 thanks to the efforts of the UN and Turkey, News.ro reported.

“We are preparing to host Mr. Putin in Turkey in August. We agree with the expansion of the Black Sea Grain Corridor.” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, quoted by Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.

Noting that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had also sent a letter to Putin, Erdogan said: “I hope that with this letter we will ensure the expansion of the grain corridor agreement with our joint efforts and the efforts of Russia. And in this way, together with Mr. Putin, we will continue to solve the problems of poor, underdeveloped African countries,” he added.

Russia has not made any statements regarding the extension of the “grain agreement”, Putin’s press secretary Dmytro Peskov later told the Russian “Interfax”. “We have not made any statements on this matter,” Peskov said in response to media reports that Vladimir Putin had agreed to extend the deal.

The European Commission is helping the UN and Turkey try to expand the deal and is open to “exploring all solutions,” a European Union spokesman said Thursday.

The UN and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is negotiating with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help ease a global food crisis exacerbated by Moscow’s invasion and blockade of Ukrainian ports. Ukraine and Russia are among the main grain exporters in the world.

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