THE Vladimir Putin met with him Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi and the former emphasized that Russia will return to the agreement with Ukraine for the cerealsonly when her demands are met.
“I will we are ready to consider reviving the agreement for grains and I said it again today to Mr. President – ​​we will do it once all agreements on lifting restrictions on Russian agricultural exports are fully implementedPutin said at the joint press conference he gave with Erdogan after their talks.
At the same time, the Russian president reiterated his criticism of the West over the deal. “The West continues to block the supply of grain and fertilizers from the Russian Federation to world markets,” he said, adding that the West had “deceived” Russia regarding the deal.
He went on to say that the Western claims that Russia triggered a food crisis by withdrawing from the deal are false, as prices did not rise when Moscow withdrew from the deal. “There is no shortage of food,” said the Russian head of state.
Erdogan’s attitude
For his part, Erdogan expressed his opposition to “alternatives” to the grain deal, saying Ankara was preparing “new proposals” with the UN to revive the Black Sea Grains Initiative, brokered by Turkey and the UN in the summer of 2022 with the aim of allowing grain exports through Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
“Alternative proposals on the agenda cannot provide a sustainable and safe model based on cooperation between the sides, such as the Black Sea Initiative,” the Turkish president said referring to the agreement. At the same time he emphasized that: “we have prepared a new series of proposals in consultation with the UN. I believe it is possible to achieve results.”
In addition, Erdogan emphasized that Ukraine should relax its negotiating stance towards Russia in the talks for the revival of the agreement.
“Ukraine needs to become more flexible specifically in its approaches so that it is possible to adopt common steps with Russia”, he stressed, adding that most grain should be destined for Africa and not for European countries.
The grain deal
Russia decided in July to leave from the so-called Black Sea Grains Initiative, a key agreement for global food supply; complaining that the sale of its own agricultural products and fertilizers to the international market continues to be blocked due to Western sanctions. Since then, Moscow has threatened to attack ships departing from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea.
While the Russian food and fertilizer exports are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance are hampering the missions.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s major agricultural producers and major players in wheat, barley, corn, canola, rapeseed, sunflower seed and sunflower oil markets.
Source: News Beast
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