The Turkish president will soon travel to Russia to discuss with his Russian counterpart the resumption of the agreement on the export of Ukrainian cereals, the spokesman for Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party announced Monday.
The spokesman said the initiative came from Erdogan “to prevent the world from facing a food crisis.”
“He will soon visit Sochi. We believe that there may be news after this visit,” said Omer Celik, quoted by the French agency AFP.
Turkish and Russian officials have not given any dates for Erdogan’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
The financial agency Bloomberg reported that the trip could take place on September 8, before Erdogan leaves for the G20 summit, which will take place in the next two days in New Delhi.
Russia is part of the group of 19 most developed economies and the European Union, but the Kremlin (presidency) announced last week that Putin will not travel to India because he is focused on the war with Ukraine.
Putin is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, which Russia invaded on February 24, 2022, risking arrest if he travels abroad.
The Kremlin has denied the allegations against Putin and has not used the ICC order to justify the Russian leader’s absence from last week’s BRICS summit in South Africa.
Turkey is one of the parties to the agreements that the UN signed in July 2022 with Moscow and kyiv to allow the export of cereals through the Black Sea that were withheld due to the war.
In July this year, Russia ended the agreement, claiming that Western sanctions imposed on it for invading Ukraine prevented it from exporting grain and agricultural fertilizers.
Since then, Moscow has threatened to attack ships sailing from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Ukraine now relies on land routes and a shallow river port, which severely limits the volume of exports.
Since pulling out of the deal, Russia has attacked Ukraine’s grain infrastructure, earning it accusations from Ukraine and the West of worsening world food insecurity.
Before the war, Ukraine and Russia together supplied 28% of the world’s wheat, 29% of barley, 15% of corn and 75% of sunflower oil, according to the British magazine The Economist.
In one year, the Black Sea initiative allowed the departure of about 33 million tons of grain and other food products from three Ukrainian ports to 45 countries.
Turkey is trying to revive the original agreement in the hope of using it as a springboard for broader peace talks between kyiv and Moscow, according to AFP.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday during a visit to kyiv that he saw “no alternative” to reviving the original deal.
Fidan is expected to travel to Moscow in the coming days to discuss the Kremlin’s demands and arrange a meeting between Erdogan and Putin.
Source: TSF
