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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was confident Russia would revive the Black Sea food deal “very soon”, although Vladimir Putin insisted Moscow would not rejoin the initiative unless the West satisfied Russia requirements.
“We are ready to return to the agreement as soon as (Russia’s) obligations are fulfilled,” Putin told a joint news conference in the Russian city of Sochi, while insisting the West had “betrayed” its commitments.
Erdogan said Turkey had been working with the United Nations to find a way to revive the agreement. “I hope that the new work of the United Nations will bear fruit. As Turkey, I am confident that we will soon reach a solution in line with expectations.”
All parties understand Russia’s expectations for the restoration of the “Belt and Road”. We have expressed these demands and will continue to do so,” the Turkish leader added. He also called on Ukraine to “soften its stance” if it wanted to save the food deal, without elaborating further.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres last week presented Russia with a “series of concrete proposals” aimed at breaking the impasse.
The meeting between Putin and Erdogan came nearly two months after Moscow withdrew from a deal that would allow some 33 million tonnes of grain exports from Ukraine across the Black Sea.
According to the agreement’s coordinating committee, more than half of the grain was shipped to developing countries, including Turkey. Russia’s withdrawal from the pact has sparked fresh fears of a possible food crisis in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.
Ahead of the meeting with Erdogan, Moscow laid out a list of demands for rejoining the agreement. Russia has long claimed the original agreement was implemented unfairly, claiming that Western sanctions blocked the implementation of a parallel agreement that would allow Moscow’s own agricultural exports.
Western diplomats say the situation is particularly serious in Moscow because it cannot export ammonia, a key fertilizer ingredient, through territory controlled by Ukraine.
Erdogan has tried to position himself as an intermediary between Russia and the West. Ankara has refused to sign on to Western sanctions against Russia, which have deepened economic ties since the war in Ukraine began last year. Turkey, a NATO member, played a key role in the initial food deal negotiated in July 2022.
Without safe access to Black Sea ports, Ukrainian farmers have been forced to reroute their grain exports via land and Danube ports. These routes are significantly more expensive and could result in fewer crops being grown on them, raising concerns about future food shortages.
Putin on Monday pushed for a separate deal under which Russia would send 1 million tons of its own grain to less developed countries in Africa through a pact with Turkey and Qatar.
Erdogan said Turkey was ready to “mill these grains in our flour mills and send them as flour to poor African countries”, but he also insisted that this was no substitute for the Black Sea deal.
“The proposed alternatives cannot provide a sustainable, safe and long-lasting model based on cooperation between the two parties, such as the Black Sea Initiative,” he said.
A series of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s southern Odessa region, some targeting Danube ports such as Izmail, showed just how far the situation has deteriorated. Kiev claimed Monday night’s airstrikes had crossed the river into NATO member Romania.
The attack on the Danube port “further demonstrates that Russia’s actions are exacerbating the global food crisis and putting millions of vulnerable people around the world at risk,” the European Commission said.
Additional reporting by Alice Hancock in Brussels
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