President Cyril Ramaphosa held a telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
The President’s conversation with Putin followed the call he had earlier from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The President and the UN Chief Diplomat focused on the ongoing negotiations between Russia and the UN about the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is due to expire on Monday.
They also discussed the African Leaders Peace Mission and the need for a permanent and sustainable solution to the movement of grain from Russia and Ukraine to the international markets.
On Thursday the President Ramaphosa held discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
President @CyrilRamaphosa had a telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin today following the call the President had with UNSG Antonio Guterres about the ongoing negotiations between Russia and the UN about the Black Sea Grain Initiative. https://t.co/TVKvoDPrZS
— Presidency | South Africa (@PresidencyZA) July 15, 2023
The African plan was presented separately to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month by a group of leaders including Ramaphosa, but has yet to gain any traction.
On the grain deal, which expires on Monday unless Russia agrees to extend it, Putin reiterated to Ramaphosa that commitments to remove obstacles to Russian food and fertiliser exports had not yet been fulfilled, the Kremlin said.
Russia has repeatedly said that for this reason it sees no grounds to renew the deal, originally struck a year ago to enable Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports despite the war with Russia.
Putin told reporters on Thursday that rather than renew the arrangement next week, Moscow might pull out and wait for its demands to be met before rejoining.
Russia has threatened to quit the deal before, however, only to renew it at the last minute. -Additional reporting by Reuters
