Kremlin Confirms Grain Deal Extension & African Peace Mission

Comments from Kremlin spox Dmitri Peskov hitting wires. Confirms the already-publicised two month extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, saying that there was 'a qualified result' from the quadripartite talks between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the United Nations. Says that the fate of the grain deal 'depends on those with home the UN needs to agree the Russian part of the deal with'. Adds that 'there are certain hopes, that different scenarios are being worked on to east restrictions on Rosselkhozbank [the Russian agricultural bank handling grain payments].'

• The extension of the grain deal to mid-July will ease concerns, at least in the short term, of another spike in global food prices. MENA nations heavily reliant on cheap Black Sea grain to keep bread prices down an avoid social unrest. Many European nations use Black Sea grain in livestock feed, with the potential for a spike in these costs pushing up already-elevated food price inflation in the EU and UK.
• Separately, talks on the prospect of an African-led peace mission to Russia and Ukraine. Peskov confirms the initiative's existence and says that an African delegation will visit Moscow. States that Moscow is 'ready to listen to any proposals that help resolve the conflict.'
• Peskov states that the decision to freeze the bank accounts of Finland's diplomatic missions in Moscow and St. Petersburg 'was a response to unfriendly acts of West.' Helsinki has raised objections that the move breaches the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.