MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that proposed talks between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey on the Black Sea grain deal on May 5 have not yet been agreed, Russian media reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish state-owned Anadolu news agency quoted Turkey’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar as saying the grain deal would be discussed at a meeting in Istanbul.
But Russia’s state-owned news agency RIA quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying of the proposed talks: “The question has not yet been agreed.”
Russia has repeatedly cast doubt on the renewal of the Turkish-brokered grain deal, which was signed in July last year and facilitates Russian and Ukrainian agricultural exports on the Black Sea.
(Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Louise Heavens and Andrew Heavens)
