US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Friday for Russia to extend a grain deal which expires next week, warning that the developing world would suffer if that did not occur.
“If Moscow follows through on its threat, developing countries including in the region will pay the price including quite literally with higher food prices, as well as greater food scarcity,” Blinken told reporters after Southeast Asian talks in Jakarta.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to extend the deal, which allows for the export of Ukrainian grain to ease a global food crisis sparked by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is yet to confirm its agreement to sign the deal and Putin has repeatedly threatened not to renew it because of obstacles to Moscow’s own exports.
“We are preparing to welcome Putin in August and we agree on the extension of the Black Sea grain corridor,” Erdogan told reporters.
For Moscow, the fate of the agreement is a point of leverage as it pursues its war in Ukraine.
Putin on Thursday warned that “not one” of Moscow’s conditions for the deal to function had been met.
The deal, which Erdogan helped broker, has allowed Ukraine to ship more than 32 million tonnes of grain past Russian warships in the Black Sea.
Much of the grain has gone to feed people in developing countries in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Thursday striking the deal was important to “rebuilding trust with the developing world”.
