There is no progress in removing obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports caused by the West's "sanction strategy", a senior Russian diplomat in Washington said on Tuesday, ahead of the expiry of a deal safeguarding Ukrainian grain exports.
The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July which allows Ukrainian grain trapped by the conflict to be safely exported from the country's Black Sea ports, is set to expire on May 18.
Russia has said that parts of the deal that are meant to allow Moscow to export its own agricultural goods via the Black Sea ports were not being honored.
"There is still no progress in resolving financial and logistical problems in the shipment of Russian grain and fertilizers," Andrey Ledenev, a minister-counsellor at the Russian Embassy in the United States, said in a post published on the embassy's Telegram messaging app.
"The import of agricultural equipment to Russia is difficult."
Ledenev also reiterated Moscow's long lasting accusations that deadlock is a direct result of the "sanction strategy" of the United States and its western allies against Moscow, which include restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance industries.
(Reuters - Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)