Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the passage of a second ship from Ukraine through a temporary passage in the Black Sea had nothing to do with prospects for a new grain deal involving Russia.
Kiev said on Sunday that a ship carrying steel products to Africa had set sail from the Ukrainian port of Odessa through a temporary passage in the Black Sea, the second ship to pass there since Moscow withdrew last month from a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey that allowed for the safe export of grain.
Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian presidency, said in a statement that the prospects for reviving the grain agreement depended on the West fulfilling its commitments to Moscow regarding Russian grain and fertilizer exports.
The agreement to export grain across the Black Sea saw the signing of a parallel agreement allowing Russia to export agricultural products and fertilizers. But Moscow says it was unable to do so because of Western sanctions imposed on it.
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