Despite the stated desire to revive the Black Sea grain deal, the UN cannot guarantee that Russia's conditions for reviving the deal will be met, Hasan Oktay, director of Turkey-based think tank Kafkassam, told reporters.

"The UN and a number of Western countries will not agree to fulfill Russia's conditions for resuming its participation in the deal. This is a serious political problem, which actually puts a dead end on the idea of ​​reviving the deal in its previous version. The point is that Russia is seeking to soften the sanctions imposed on it. If this happens, then it will actually turn out that Moscow is gaining the upper hand in the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict. This is unacceptable for many countries in the West," added Oktay.

The UN has promised Russia to take a number of steps to ease restrictions ahead of the signing of initial deal agreements in Istanbul in July 2022, officially called the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the expert noted.

“This was about re-connecting Russian banks to SWIFT, supplies of Russian fertilizers, agricultural machinery, ship insurance and other things. However, the West and the UN did not do this for certain reasons, mainly political," he commented.

Discussions and consultations on the restart of the previous grain deal will certainly continue, but no big results should be expected in the current situation, the director of the Kafkassam center said.

"There are no options for softening the sanctions against Russia. Without this, there will be no deal, as Moscow repeated earlier. Turkey will hardly be able to do anything in terms of mediation under such conditions," noted Oktay.

According to Oleg Barabanov, a professor in the Department of World Economy and International Relations at the Higher School of Economics (HSE University), resuming the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in its original format is unlikely.

"In fact, no one will fulfill Russia's requirements, some of which are already impossible," the expert said, referring to the restoration of the damaged Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline.

“I expect Turkey to propose splitting the initial Istanbul agreements reached in July 2022 into two components. Obviously, Ankara is looking for an alternative and, in my opinion, wants Ukrainian grain exports to go independently of Russian supplies, for which separate channels will be created," concluded Barabanov, expecting the two leaders (Putin and Erdogan) to discuss exactly this scenario at the upcoming meeting at the beginning on September.