Russia Says No Extension for Grain Deal

The Kremlin announced that there would be no extension UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal beyond 18 May unless the West ended the difficulties in exporting Russian grain and fertilizers.

"No deal can stand on one leg: It must stand on two legs," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "In this regard, of course, judging by the state of play today, the outlook (for its extension) is not so great."

Peskov said this deal "has not worked and is not working so far."

In the same vein, the spokesman affirmed that the Black Sea will never become a NATO sea, adding that it must remain a sea of cooperation and interaction for all coastal states.

His statement came in response to Kyiv’s idea of demilitarizing the Black Sea and simultaneously turning it into a ‘NATO sea’.

"The Black Sea will never be a ‘NATO sea,’ this is a common sea,” he stressed: "This must be indivisible security."

He noted that the idea is based on two contradictions. "NATO and demilitarization are two incompatible notions," he said.