Moscow threatened on Friday to scrap Ukraine's grain export deal and set the outline for any peace negotiations that end the more than year-old war with Kiev.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a visit to Ankara: "If there is no progress in removing obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports, we will ask whether this agreement is necessary."
On March 19, the agreement, which was signed with Turkish mediation and UN supervision last year, was extended and allows the export of Ukrainian grain through a safe passage in the Black Sea despite the war.
But Russia has proposed a "60-day extension in a goodwill gesture" instead of the 120-day originally agreed, insisting it must respect the other part of the agreement on its fertilizer exports.
In a related context, Lavrov declared that any peace negotiations on Ukraine must be based on the establishment of a "new world order" that is not dominated by the United States.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Lavrov said: "Negotiations can only be carried out on the basis of taking into account Russian interests. These are principles on which the new world order will be based."
Turkey, a NATO member that has good relations with its Black Sea neighbors Russia and Ukraine, has been pushing to resume peace talks in hopes of building on its diplomatic efforts launched last year to end more than a year of war in Ukraine.
Since the conflict began, Ankara has managed to maintain relations with Ukraine and Russia, and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan communicate constantly, either by phone or face-to-face.
Lavrov arrived in Ankara yesterday to discuss various issues, including the development of cooperation in the field of energy, the grain deal, the Ukraine war, and the Syrian settlement, according to Russian state media.