Russian President Vladimir Putin refused on Monday to sign a new agreement to transport grain across the Black Sea as long as the West does not comply with Moscow’s demands.
The Russian leader spoke after speaking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the southern Russian resort of Sochi.
Together with the UN, Erdogan was one of the mediators of the original agreement, known as the Black Sea Initiative and signed in the summer of 2022 in Istanbul, which allowed Ukraine to export its grain production safely.
Moscow unilaterally abandoned the protocol in July.
According to the Ankara press, the Turkish head of state hoped at the Sochi meeting to “convince” the Russian president to resume the agreements.
At the opening of what was the first meeting between the two heads of state since October last year, Erdogan had promised a “very important” announcement on grain exports at the end.
Speaking after his meeting with Erdogan, Putin said Russia was finalizing a deal to supply six African countries with free grain.
“We are about to sign agreements with six African states to which we intend to provide free grain in the coming weeks,” he told a press conference.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said for his part that he opposes alternatives to the grain deal in force until July.
“Alternative proposals on the agenda cannot offer a sustainable and secure model based on cooperation between the parties like the Black Sea Initiative,” the Turkish president declared after the meeting with Vladimir Putin.
The Turkish head of state specified that Turkey is preparing “a new set of proposals in consultation with the UN” to reactivate the agreement, crucial for the world’s food supply.
The quadripartite agreement allowed maritime traffic from the southern Ukrainian ports that were blocked by the Russian fleet in the region.
At the time it suspended its participation in the deal, Moscow admitted it had returned to a deal if it contemplated the reintegration of its agricultural bank, Rosselkhozbank, into the SWIFT international banking system, the lifting of sanctions on spare parts for machinery agriculture, the unblocking of transport logistics and insurance and unfreezing of assets.
The Russian side also demanded that the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline for the export of ammonia, an essential component of fertilizers, be restarted.
Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s largest cereal producers and global supplies were severely affected by the war between the two countries in February last year, with an impact on food security in the most vulnerable countries and an escalation of the goods prices.
Since the end of the deal, Russia has been heavily shelling Ukraine’s southern ports and coal silos, while kyiv has been looking for alternative export routes.
Source: TSF
