Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Russia discussed options for exporting grain to countries in need

Foreign Ministers of Russia and Turkey Sergey Lavrov and Hakan Fidan discussed the Black Sea initiative and options for exporting grain to countries in need. About it reported in the Russian diplomatic department.

The Foreign Ministry clarified that the Turkish side was the initiator of the telephone conversation.

“As an alternative to the Black Sea Initiative, the ministers considered other options for supplying grain to the countries most in need, not dependent on the subversive actions of Kyiv and its Western patrons,” the ministry said.

During the conversation, Lavrov pointed out that the Black Sea agreements had been terminated since July 18, since the Russian part was not implemented, and Kyiv “openly commercialized” the deal.

During the conversation, the ministers also exchanged views on issues of bilateral relations and agreed to maintain contacts.

On July 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Moscow was pulling out of the grain deal. This includes the withdrawal of guarantees for the safety of navigation, the curtailment of the maritime humanitarian corridor, the disbanding of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul and the restoration of the regime of a temporarily dangerous area in the northwestern Black Sea. At the same time, in a statement from the Foreign Ministry stressedthat the poorest countries, such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia, accounted for less than 3% of the food in the grain deal, while over 70% of the goods went to “high- and upper-middle-income countries”.

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov specified on July 17 that the deal is terminated, as the Russian part is not being implemented. At the same time, Moscow is ready to return to the implementation of the agreements as soon as its conditions are met.

The grain agreement was concluded on July 22, 2022 between representatives of Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine. The Ukrainian part of the deal implied the unhindered export of grain from the ports of Odessa, Yuzhny and Chernomorsk, the Russian part – easing restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers. Since then, the agreement has been repeatedly extended, and the last agreement was reached in May and the deal was extended until July 17.