Kremlin Pessimistic About Extension of Black Sea Grain Deal

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov indicated on Monday that "Russia is pessimistic about the prospects of renewing the grain agreement in the Black Sea because there has been no progress in implementing the accompanying agreements related to Russian exports." Peskov stated, "So far, we do not have anything to announce regarding the implementation of that part of the agreement that concerns the Russian side." He added, "At the moment, we declare that this part of the agreements has not yet been fulfilled. There is still time before the deadline, but there is not much hope." The Financial Times reported that "the European Union is considering a proposal for the Russian Agricultural Bank to create a subsidiary that would allow it to reconnect to the global financial network, as an incentive to encourage Russia to extend the agreement."