Moscow hopes U.S. will lift restrictions on Russian grain exports, as it did for Russian fertilizers - Putin

TEHRAN. July 20 (Interfax) - Russia will facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain, but also wants all curbs on Russian grain exports to be removed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"The Turkish Republic and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself have done a great deal to reach an agreement on Ukrainian grain exports. But the way we raised this issue from the outset is that it should be a package solution, i.e. we will facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain, but we assume that all restrictions related to the possible exports of Russian grain will be lifted," Putin said on Wednesday at a press conference following his visit to Iran, where he also held a one-on-one meeting with Turkey's Erdogan.

Agreements on this score had originally been reached with international organizations as well, he said.

"They assumed an obligation to put all this into a package. No one has made any objections thus far, including our American partners. But we'll see what will come out of it in the near future," Putin said.

The United States has already lifted a number of restrictions, including on Russian fertilizer exports, he said.

"As you know, the Americans, in actual fact, have lifted the restrictions related to deliveries of Russian fertilizers to the world market. I hope that, if they sincerely want to improve the situation on the world markets, the same will be done in regard to Russian grain exports as well," Putin said.