NEW DELHI, September 10. /TASS/: Russia cannot be excluded from the grain deal as it is fraught with the growth of tension in the region, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday after the Group of Twenty summit.
"I has an opportunity at the summit to discuss in detail the grain deal. It [the deal] made it possible to avoid a food crisis in the world. As you know, it was extended three times. Thirty-three million tons of grain were supplied over this time. The process without Russia will unlikely be sustainable. Russia cannot be excluded from the grain process. There must not be any attempts to whip up tension in the region," he said.
On July 17, Russia refused to continue its participation in the grain deal, which was reached a year ago to ensure safe exports of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. The deal also provided for creating conditions for exporting farming products and fertilizers from Russia. Moscow explained its withdrawal from the deal by the non-implementation of the part of the deal related to Russian exports to the global market.
Apart from that, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly pointed to the fact that most of the grain from Ukraine had been shipped to European countries whereas under the deal, it was to go to the poorest countries. Nevertheless, Moscow said that it was ready to resume its participation in the deal only when all obligations concerning Russia were implemented.
