Russian wheat deliveries to Syria have been temporarily suspended amid uncertainty over the new Syrian government's position and possible payment delays, Reuters reported, citing sources in Moscow and Baghdad. 

As the agency reports, the situation is confirmed by changes in the routes of ships that previously participated in grain deliveries. Thus, the bulk carrier Mikhail Nenashev is anchored near the Syrian coast, and another ship, Alpha Hermes, after several days off the Syrian coast, headed to the Egyptian port of Alexandria without unloading its cargo. 

Sources in Damascus claim that the ships are not being unloaded due to a lack of clarity over payments. Negotiations between Moscow and the new Syrian government are ongoing, but no final decision has been made yet. 

Each of the ships is carrying about 30 thousand tons of grain, and if payment is not made, the Russian side may sell the cargo to other buyers. 

Grain deliveries to Syria, traditionally carried out from Russia, are associated with a number of complications due to sanctions against both countries. For these purposes, special logistics schemes and vessels that do not transmit data for route tracking were used.

Syria could be self-sufficient in grain, growing up to four million tons of wheat a year. But war, droughts and the loss of key agricultural regions to U.S.-backed Kurdish groups have forced Damascus to rely on imports, mostly from the Black Sea region. 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture Vitaliy Koval announced Kyiv’s readiness to fill the gap in food supplies to Syria. 

"If Syria needs food, we are ready to work with them. Ukraine always strives to help where there are difficulties with food," — Koval emphasized. 

However, despite the active export of Ukrainian wheat and corn to the Middle East, Syria is not yet a key market for Kyiv. According to traders, only about 6 thousand tons of Ukrainian corn entered Syria last year, which is only a small part of the total volume of Ukrainian exports, which reached 29,4 million tons.