Ukraine's grain export agreement through the Black Sea Corridor has been extended by another two months. Russia extended the duration of this agreement with the cooperation of the United Nations and Turkey.
The Putin administration added an additional two months to the proposed four-month duration of the grain export agreement with Ukraine. This information was found in the Reuters report citing the Turkish media Anadolu.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, confirmed this information on Monday and said that Russia has extended the deadline three times. On March 18, the second phase will end.
Ukraine exports 90% of its grain through the Black Sea route. Apart from this, there is no alternative for Ukraine to travel by sea. Immediately after the start of the war on February 24 of last year, Russia imposed a naval blockade on the Black Sea, which stopped the export of food grains to Ukraine. Because of this, third-world countries like Bangladesh are experiencing a severe crisis. Bangladesh is the third largest buyer of wheat imports from Ukraine after Egypt and Indonesia.
Remarkably, at the initiative of the UN and with Turkey's mediation, Russia and Ukraine came to an agreement in February 2022 to eliminate the world food crisis. After that, the contract was extended for another 120 days in November last year. This time the contract period has been extended by another 60 days.
