Erdoğan fails to convince Putin to resume grain deal
Russian President Vladimir Putin, following talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stated that Moscow was not ready to immediately return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which it quit in July.
To have Russia return to the grain deal, Putin demands the prior requirements to be met.
"Russia will be ready to resume the grain deal and will do it as soon as all the agreed commitments are fulfilled," said the Russian president during a joint press conference with Erdoğan in Sochi.
Putin noted that he was expecting to lift some sanctions related to Russian grain and fertilisers for European markets.
Before the meeting with Erdoğan in Sochi on September 4, Putin said he was open to discussions about Russia's participation in the grain deal.
Background:
- On 17 July, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the President of the Russian Federation, said that Russia was suspending its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Russia also revoked shipping security guarantees negotiated as part of the Grain Initiative.
- Ukraine offered Türkiye and the UN to continue the functioning of the grain corridor within the Black Sea grain initiative without Russia.
- In late August, the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Türkiye, Dmytro Kuleba and Hakan Fidan, discussed the revival of the grain deal in Kyiv.
- Afterward, Fidan, during a visit to Moscow and following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, called for the revival of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
- The UN, with the participation of Turkey, prepared new proposals for the restoration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, providing for the connection of the Russian Agricultural Bank subsidiary to SWIFT and the unblocking of the frozen assets of Russian companies producing fertilisers in Europe.
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