Russia agrees to extend Black Sea grain deal – Turkish official

This is reported by Bloomberg.  

A Turkish official told the agency on condition of anonymity that the grain deal would be extended. According to him, Russia has “so far” agreed to continue participating in the agreement on the safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports. The decision is expected to be officially announced today, May 17.

The preliminary agreement on the grain deal expires on May 18.

So far, the Ukrainian government has not informed the Russian government about the extension of the agreement. The Russian dictator's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, refused to confirm or deny the information and advised to wait for Russia to announce its decision.

Earlier it was reported that to extend the agreement, the Russians demanded that Rosselkhozbank be reconnected to SWIFT, resume the supply of agricultural machinery, spare parts and maintenance, lift restrictions on insurance and reinsurance, plus lift the ban on access to ports, resume the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, and unblock foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies related to the production and transportation of food and fertilizers.

• On May 17, the last vessel under the current grain deal left the port in the Odesa region.