President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will urge Moscow to send goods through the Black Sea corridor established under a UN-backed grain deal when he meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next week, the Turkish leader said on Friday, seeking to keep Russia committed to the deal.
The landmark grain deal was aimed at averting a global food crisis by ensuring safe passage for ships in and out of Ukrainian ports, allowing them to export tens of millions of tons of grain that Russia’s invasion had blocked.
The agreement, signed by Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye and the United Nations, also facilitates Russian exports. But Moscow says Western countries aren’t doing enough to ease the logistical difficulties Russian ships face because of its sanctions.
Putin sparked fears Wednesday that Moscow could withdraw its support for the deal after he said Russia and the developing world had been “misled” by its terms, raising the idea of limiting countries that can receive shipments ahead of the deal, which expires in November. extends.
“As Mr. Putin said, those ships (using the corridor) go to developed or developing countries. Perhaps that is why Mr. Putin does not send Russian products. Of course, at our meeting in Samarkand, we will now ask you to send Russian goods through the corridor with ships, ”Erdogan told reporters on his plane returning from a trip to the Balkans.
The export of grain and other Russian products will help poor countries in a difficult situation, he said. A system to send grain and other products to African countries in need will be set up once Russian grain also starts arriving, she added.
“If Russian grain starts arriving, we will send this grain, other products, everything, until they reach these poor African countries.”
Erdogan-Putin meeting ‘much needed’
Putin and Erdoğan are set to discuss implementation of the deal when they meet on the sidelines of a summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders in Uzbekistan next week.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that a meeting between the leaders on the deal was “possible and necessary.”
“A talk between Putin and Erdogan is already being prepared and, as we hope, it will take place in Samarkand,” Peskov said. “This conversation is sorely needed.”
The July deal to unblock Ukraine’s grain exports from its Black Sea ports was brokered by Türkiye and the United Nations. It remains the only significant diplomatic breakthrough in the six-month conflict.
The Turkish leader has said that Putin was right to complain that the grain was mainly going to rich countries.
“There are many countries in a difficult situation, especially in Africa, which we must embrace and send these products to as soon as possible,” Erdogan said.
Peskov repeated Putin’s claims on Friday that the grain deal was unfair to poorer countries because most shipments were sent to Europe and other rich countries.
“The agreements are being implemented, but the way they are implemented does not give any specific benefit to poor countries,” Peskov said.
The deal is being fulfilled ‘badly’
Separately, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the deal was being carried out “badly” and its extension will depend on how it is implemented, RIA reported on Friday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told reporters that any extension of the deal would depend on “how all aspects are implemented.”
“Unfortunately, it is not being implemented as planned,” he said.
“The second part of the deal, namely Russian grain and fertilizer exports, unfortunately still faces difficulties,” Rudenko said, according to comments carried by Russian news agencies.
Meanwhile, the United States said it sees no indication the deal is unraveling.
“We see no indication that it is unraveling now and, in fact, it is having the desired effect,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday.
A UN spokesman for the Black Sea Grains Initiative said on Wednesday that 30% of grain and other food products that had left Ukraine had gone to low- and lower-middle-income countries.
But the United Nations has also said that the export deal is a commercial, not a humanitarian, market-driven operation.
Many of the 100 or so ships that have left Ukraine have been stranded for months by the blockade, unable to move their contracted cargoes. Most were loaded with corn and reserved by developed countries to be used as animal feed or biofuels.
Peskov also said that more measures should be taken to help Russia export its own agricultural products.
The West has not imposed sanctions on Russian food or fertilizer, but Moscow says logistical sanctions and restrictions on Russian ships entering Western ports or securing insurance restrict Russia’s access to world markets.
Moscow says that easing these restrictions was a key part of the Black Sea deal.
“This problem has not been resolved. It will be the subject of a specific conversation,” Peskov said.
‘Very troublesome’ winter for Europe
Meanwhile, Erdoğan also said that he had discussed natural gas prices with Putin, saying his goal is to secure a positive result for the welfare of the Turkish public.
The two leaders had met in early August and agreed to boost business cooperation.
This winter will not be easy for Europe and it will be very problematic, with economically high wages, Erdoğan emphasized.
Power bills, already rising as gas demand rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic, soared further after Russia invaded Ukraine and the West imposed sanctions on Moscow. Governments have been struggling to limit the impact of prices.
Fears in Europe have risen over a potentially grim winter after Russia announced it would keep its main gas pipeline to Germany closed.
Erdoğan said on Tuesday that Russia was cutting off natural gas flows to Europe in retaliation for the sanctions, adding that the continent was “reaping what it sowed.”
