Separately, Ukraine accused Russia of blocking the passage of four grain ships from its Black Sea ports.

The Kremlin has repeatedly said the deal will not be renewed beyond May 18 unless the West removes obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports.

“As of today, we regret to say that no real progress was reached in resolving this problem,” envoy Gennady Gatilov told reporters at the Russian permanent mission in Geneva.

The Black Sea deal, brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the United Nations and Turkey in July, aimed to prevent a global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain trapped by Russia’s invasion to be safely exported from three ports.

The Ukrainian navy, writing on Facebook, said Russia had effectively stalled the deal on Wednesday by refusing to take part in agreeing upon the routes that four grain ships should take, a process that occurs for each export trip.

Although Russia’s agricultural exports have not been explicitly targeted by Western restrictions, Moscow says sanctions on its payments, logistics and insurance industries have created a barrier to the export of its grains and fertilizers.

“The Ukrainian part of the deal is working well,” Gatilov said. “But the Russian part of this deal is not working and these two parts should be equal. This is not the case.”

One of Russia’s main demands in negotiations is the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT payments system.

Gatilov said the bank should be fully reconnected to the system rather than subjected to “case-by-case” decisions.

Reuters cited a Russian source as saying the United States gave JPMorgan Chase permission to process payments for Russian Agricultural Bank, but that the arrangement was no substitute for reconnecting the bank to SWIFT.

— Reporting for Reuters by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva; additional reporting by David Ljunggren.

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Vershinin’s statement came after talks with U.N. officials in Geneva.

The Black Sea grain initiative, brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the United Nations and Turkey last July, aimed to prevent a global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain blockaded by Russia’s invasion to be safely exported from three Ukrainian ports.

The deal, which was extended for 120 days in November, is up for renewal on Saturday.

In a statement after talks with U.N. trade official Rebeca Grynspan and aid chief Martin Griffiths, Vershinin said that despite a “comprehensive and frank conversation,” Russia noted that restrictions on its agricultural exporters remained.

Russia has argued that, although the country’s agricultural exports have not been explicitly targeted by the West, sanctions on its payments, logistics and insurance industries have created a barrier for it being able to export its own grains and fertilizers.

Russia “does not object to another extension of the ‘Black Sea Initiative’ after its second term expiration on March 18, but only for 60 days,” Vershinin said.

“Our further stance will be determined upon tangible progress on normalization of our agricultural exports, not in words, but in deeds,” he added.

A senior Ukrainian government official involved in the talks to secure the initial deal said Kyiv considered a 60-day extension to be in violation of the agreement’s terms.

“The agreement clearly states that extensions are possible for a minimum of 120 days,” he told Reuters. “To extend it for 60 days, you have to amend the deal.”

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York following the talks: “We’re doing everything to preserve the integrity and ensure the continuity of the agreement,”

He said the U.N. was working with Russia, the private sector, the European Union, Britain, the United States and others to facilitate Moscow’s agricultural exports, adding that “obviously a lot of these things are not within the decision-making powers for the United Nations.”

European traders said uncertainty about the talks, especially the statement that Russia only sought an extension for 60 days, was a factor behind sharp rises in prices on the Paris Euronext wheat market.

Moscow had previously signalled it would only agree to an extension if restrictions affecting its own exports were lifted, but many diplomats and senior officials, including Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, said ahead of the talks they were optimistic the deal would be renewed.

— Reporting for Reuters by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Emma Farge in Geneva, Michael Hogan in Hamburg, Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv and Michelle Nichols in New York.

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