On Wednesday, Russia said it would agree to extend the Black Sea Grain Export Agreement, which allows grain to be safely transported from Ukrainian ports, only if the interests of its own agricultural producers are taken into account.

The initiative to export grain through the Black Sea, brokered by the UN and Turkey last year, expires on March 18 and can only be extended with the agreement of all parties. Russia has already signaled that it is dissatisfied with certain aspects of the agreement, Reuters and Agerpres write.

Russian agricultural exports have not been explicitly targeted by Western sanctions, but Moscow says restrictions on its payment, logistics and insurance systems are an “obstacle” to its ability to export agricultural grain and fertilizer.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in New Delhi, discussed the prospects for renewing the agreement.

“The Russian side emphasized that the continuation of the package of agreements on grain is possible only if the interests of Russian producers of agricultural products and fertilizers are taken into account in terms of unlimited access to world markets,” the Russian ministry said in a statement.

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