Erdogan and Sunak discuss grain deal in Vilnius

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Vilnius, where the NATO summit opened today, discussed the situation around the grain deal. This was reported in the office of the British Prime Minister.

“President Erdogan informed the Prime Minister about the recent visit [президента Украины Владимира] Zelensky to Turkey, and the leaders also agreed on the importance of the task of extending the Black Sea grain deal,” writes TASS with reference to the statement.

It is specified that Sunak and Erdogan also discussed other issues. In particular, Sunak welcomed the Turkish President’s promise to ratify the protocol on Sweden’s accession to NATO and thanked him for such a decision. At the same time, during the meeting, they touched upon issues in the field of defense technologies, the fight against terrorism, illegal migration, etc.

On July 7, a meeting between Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took place in Istanbul, after which the Turkish president said that he would like to extend the grain deal after July 17. He also informedthat expects a constructive position from the President of Russia on this issue. According to Erdogan, the extension of the grain initiative is being discussed with Russia, and Ukraine has declared its readiness “to do everything in their power.”

The Kremlin previously stated that the Russian part of the agreements on the grain deal is still not being implemented, and therefore there are no grounds for its extension. July 10, press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov confirmedthat Moscow did not change its position on the deal after the meeting between Erdogan and Zelensky.

The deal was concluded on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Turkey and the UN, on the one hand, and representatives of Russia and Ukraine, on the other. As part of the negotiations, two agreements were signed between Moscow and Kiev. The first is for the export of Ukrainian grain from three ports, including Odessa, Yuzhny and Chornomorsk, the second is for assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers.