Russia on Thursday said there would be no extension of the UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal beyond May 18 unless the West removed a series of obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertiliser.
"Without progress on solving five systemic problems...there is no need to talk about the further extension of the Black Sea initiative after May 18," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Russia also blamed Ukraine and the United Nations for a backlog of inspections of ships exporting grain from Black Sea ports under the deal.
Russia has repeatedly said that key obstacles to its exports need to be removed, including the reconnection of Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT payment system.
Other demands include a resumption in supplies of agricultural machinery and parts, a lifting on restrictions on insurance and reinsurance, access to ports, the resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline and the unblocking of assets and the accounts of Russian companies involved in food and fertiliser exports.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
