Turkish President Recep Erdogan will meet separately in the coming days with his Russian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterparts Volodymyr Zelensky to resume the agreement on grain exports, the head of diplomacy announced from Turkey on Tuesday.
“The president will speak with Putin and Zelensky in the coming days. We believe we will get through this,” Mevlüt Cavusoglu told reporters, noting that the grain export agreement “benefits everyone.”
On Monday, Erdogan expressed Turkey’s commitment to maintain the agreement on grain exports from Ukraine, despite Russia’s withdrawal, which has already criticized and questioned Ankara’s decision.
“Although Russia has doubts about this because it does not have the same facilities, we will continue to make efforts to serve humanity,” said Erdogan, who last summer agreed with Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations to export 9 .5 million tons of grains and other food products.
The Turkish president referred to Turkey’s efforts to facilitate the arrival of grains to countries at risk of famine due to the blockade of Ukrainian exports following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
“With the joint mechanism we have set up in Istanbul, we are contributing to alleviating the food crisis,” he said, referring to the system set up to have ships leaving or arriving in Ukrainian ports inspected in the Turkish city.
Erdogan’s words were answered by Moscow the same day, with the Kremlin saying it would be “dangerous” to continue exporting grain from Ukraine without Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said it will be “dangerous” and “difficult” to continue to implement Ukraine’s grain deal without Moscow.
“In the circumstances where Russia talks about the impossibility of guaranteeing the safety of shipping in these areas, this agreement is difficult to implement and takes a different, much riskier, more dangerous course,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. were questioned about the possibility of continuing to implement the agreement without Russia.
Russia announced on Sunday that it had indefinitely suspended its participation in the agreement, following drone attacks on Russian warships in Sevastopol, a port on Ukraine’s annexed Crimean peninsula.
In the statements, Erdogan recalled that Ukraine and Russia produce a third of the world’s wheat.
Several ships departed from Ukrainian ports for Istanbul on Monday, and another 16 were scheduled to pass through the humanitarian maritime corridor, said Ismini Palla, a UN spokesman for the Joint Coordination Center (JCC), which also includes Ukraine, Russia and Turkey and includes the United Nations. .
To compensate for the lack of Russian inspectors, the JCC, with Moscow’s knowledge, proposed that the Turkish and UN delegations provide 10 teams to inspect 40 ships with departure permits on Monday, a proposal that was accepted by Ukraine.
According to the JCC, 112 cargo ships are awaiting inspection off the coast of Istanbul.
The agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain, which came into effect on August 1 and expires on November 19, allowed the export of more than 9.5 million tons of grains and other agricultural products, the JCC said.
Source: DN
