Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to talk with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about resuming the grain deal, despite the latter's urgent requests, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing diplomats from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

While the Kremlin refuses any negotiations on this topic at the level of heads of state, Turkish officials continue to insist on holding a dialogue through other channels.

Gülru Gezer, a former senior diplomat at the Turkish embassy in Moscow, told the WSJ she thinks that the Russian side and especially the Kremlin were questioning Erdogan's way of thinking and that he [Putin] did not return phone calls [from foreign heads of state].

Earlier, Erdogan suggested that Vladimir Putin would like to extend the grain deal. He assured that he would hold telephone conversations with his Russian colleague to discuss the deal without waiting for their August meeting in Turkey.