MOSCOW, RUSSIA — Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Black Sea Grain Initiative has failed to deliver any of its promises to get Russia’s agricultural goods and fertilizer to world markets and a withdrawal from the deal due to expire July 17 is under consideration, Reuters reported.

The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, opened three Ukrainian ports following Russia’s February 2022 invasion and blockade that had rattled global grain markets and sparked fears of food shortages in less-developed nations dependent on Black Sea grain. It has been renewed three times, most recently on May 17 for 60 days.

Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s top agricultural producers, and major players in the wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seed and sunflower oil markets. Russia is also a leader in the fertilizer market. The deal has been credited with delivering more than 30 million tonnes of agricultural products and foodstuffs through the Black Sea, steadying prices and averting a hunger crisis.

To convince Russia to approve the pact, a three-year accord was struck at the same time under which UN officials agreed to help Russia with its own food and fertilizer exports. However, Putin said this part of the agreement has not been implemented.

Sanctions imposed on Russia by Western nations and their allies following the invasion, while not targeting Russia’s food and fertilizer exports, placed restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance that pose significant barriers to shipments, according to Moscow.

“We are thinking about getting out of this grain deal now,” Putin told a meeting of Russian war correspondents and military bloggers, Reuters reported. “Unfortunately, we were once again cheated; nothing was done in terms of liberalizing the supply of our grain to foreign markets. There were a lot of conditions that the Westerners had to fulfill under the leadership of the UN. Nothing has been done.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on June 12 that he was concerned Russia would on July 17 quit the grain deal.

“... We are working hard in order to make sure that it will be possible to maintain the Black Sea initiative and at the same time that we are able to go on in our work to facilitate Russian exports,” Guterres told reporters.

Russia’s specific demands are that Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) be reconnected to the SWIFT payment system, that supplies of agricultural machinery and parts to Russia needed to be resumed, and that restrictions on insurance and reinsurance needed to be lifted.

Other demands include the resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline that lets Russia pump the chemical to Ukraine’s main Black Sea port, and the unblocking of assets and accounts of Russian companies involved in food and fertilizer exports.