Russia says grain deal extension 'directly depends' on easing restrictions on its exports

FILE PHOTO: Combines load wheat into trucks in a field during harvest near the village of Solyanoye in the Omsk region, Russia September 8, 2022. REUTERS/Alexey Malgavko

(Reuters) - Russia on Monday told a top United Nations representative that the extension of a landmark Black Sea grain deal was dependent on the West easing Russia's own agricultural and fertiliser exports, the defence ministry said in a statement.

In a meeting in Moscow, Russia's deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin told U.N. Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths that extending the deal, which unlocked Ukrainian agricultural exports from its southern ports, "directly depends on ensuring full implementation of all previously reached agreements."