MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/: Russia no longer intends to trust any promises by Western countries and the UN regarding the Black Sea grain deal, and could consider returning to the deal only after seeing concrete results, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on air during a Channel One television broadcast.
"We proceeded from the fact that we gave every opportunity to UN Secretary General [Antonio Guterres], were ready to work with him, and did everything in our power to unblock the situation. We will no longer accept any assurances and promises, or some cavalier last-minute initiatives aimed only at getting us to say ‘yes.’ Only concrete results. And when such concrete results are presented, only then, perhaps, would it be possible [for us] to think about returning to this deal," the diplomat said.
Zakharova stressed that the Russian side had done everything so that "really needy countries could use the [food] products that could be pushed through via the channels provided under this package agreement."
"But, unfortunately, the West's game has gone too far," she added.
The grain deal ceased functioning on July 17. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Russia was ready to return to the grain deal only once the Russia-related provisions of the original agreement were duly implemented.
