Russia expects to enter into working contacts with Türkiye and Qatar to figure out the technical aspects of the proposal to send 1 million metric tons of grain to Africa, the country's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Wednesday.
Moscow proposed the arrangement after quitting a year-old deal in July that had permitted Ukraine to ship grain safely from its Black Sea ports in the hope of stemming a surge in global food prices exacerbated by Russia's invasion.
Russia has sought to court African countries, some of which have been suffering food shortages, by offering them free or discounted grain - albeit far less than Ukraine had been exporting.
"All agreements in principle have been reached. We expect that in the near future, we will enter into working contacts with all parties to work out all the technical aspects of the scheme for such deliveries,” Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
Türkiye would handle onward export of the Russian grain but the details of its role were not clear.
Moscow says it quit the prior deal because the West has failed to remove obstacles to its own grain and fertilizer exports created by sanctions, but also complained that too little of the grain freed by the Black Sea deal was getting to the poorest countries.
