Turkish Foreign Minister warned of rising food prices in case of non-compliance with the requirements of the Russian Federation

Food prices on world markets will rise again if Russia’s demands on the grain deal are not met, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

“If the deadline is not extended, a new crisis will come. To do this, the legal requirements of Russia must be met. As part of this, discussions continue on reconnecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT,” – emphasized Minister in an interview on 24 TV.

According to Cavusoglu, in the past, the grain deal was extended only thanks to contacts between the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. UN Secretary General spokesman Farhan Haq said earlier that a high-level meeting on the grain deal would be held in Istanbul next week.

The grain deal was extended in mid-March until May 18. On April 25, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the situation around the agreement had reached a dead end. The minister pointed to the unwillingness to remove obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers, despite their shortage, and also to connect Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT. The Kremlin called the prospects for extending the agreement “not very good.”

The grain deal was concluded on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Turkey and the UN, on the one hand, and representatives of Russia and Ukraine, on the other. Separate agreements were concluded with Moscow and Kiev: the first was for the export of Ukrainian grain from three ports, including Odessa, Yuzhny and Chernomorsk, and the second was for assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers. Moscow has repeatedly noted that the second part of the deal is not being implemented.