No Sight for More Guarantees for Russia to Continue Grain Deal, Says Lavrov

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia didn't see any sign of receiving any guarantees to allow the continuation of the grain deal with Ukraine.

Russia quit the deal in July, complaining the presence of Western sanctions that impeded its own exports of grain and fertilizers.

Lavrov said after a meeting with the foreign minister of Turkey, which brokered the deal with the United Nations, that Russia is ready to continue the grain deal "tomorrow" if its demands were asked, although there is no sign for the Russian demands to happen.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: "Russia has demands for uninterrupted export of its own grain and fertilizer. We confirmed the importance of meeting these demands in our meeting."

He added that the United Nations had prepared a new proposal package: "We believe that this provides a suitable basis for the revival of the initiative."

Lavrov responded: "There is still not a single guarantee in this message. There are only promises to try faster, try more actively...

"As soon as there are not promises, but guarantees, with a concrete result that can be implemented tomorrow, then from tomorrow the implementation of this package will resume in full."

During his meeting with the Russian official, he blamed the west to stand in the way of the solution.