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The presidents of Russia and Turkey met on Monday, with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan trying to persuade Russia to revive a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain and other goods from three Black Sea ports despite the war. permitted to.
In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to extend the accord, which was brokered a year ago by Turkey and the United Nations.
Russia complained that a parallel deal promising to remove barriers to Russian exports of food and fertilizer was not honored. It said restrictions on shipping and insurance have hampered its agricultural business, even though it has shipped a record amount of wheat since last year.
The leaders are to meet in the Black Sea city of Sochi, where the Russian president has his residence.
Since Putin backed away from the initiative, Erdogan has repeatedly promised to renew the arrangements that helped avoid food crises in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other commodities that developing countries rely on.
Data from the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which organized the Ukraine shipment, showed that 57% of grain from Ukraine went to developing countries, with the top destination being China, which received nearly a quarter of the food.
Russia has repeatedly attacked the Odessa region, Ukraine’s main Black Sea port. On Monday, the Ukrainian Air Force said it intercepted 23 of 32 drones targeting the Odia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, but did not specify the damage caused by the drones.
The Turkish president maintained close ties with Putin during the 18-month war in Ukraine. Turkey has not joined Western sanctions against Russia following its invasion, emerging as a main trading partner and logistics hub for Russia’s foreign trade.
However, NATO member Turkey has also supported Ukraine, sending arms, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and supporting Kiev’s bid to join NATO.
Erdogan angered Moscow in July when he allowed five Ukrainian commanders to return home. The soldiers were captured by Russia and handed over to Turkey on the condition that they remain there for the duration of the war.
Putin and Erdogan – authoritarian leaders who have both been in power for more than two decades – are said to have a close relationship, which developed in the wake of a failed coup against Erdogan in 2016 when Putin offered his support. Wale was the first prominent leader.
The Sochi summit took place on Thursday after talks between the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers, during which Russia handed over a list of actions to be taken by the West to restart Ukraine’s Black Sea exports.
Erdogan has indicated sympathy for Putin’s position. In July, he said that Putin had “some expectations from Western countries” on the Black Sea agreement and that it was “important for these countries to act in this regard.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “concrete proposals” aimed at getting Russian exports into global markets and allowing the Black Sea Initiative to resume. But Lavrov said Moscow is not satisfied with the letter.
Describing Turkey’s “intense” efforts to revive the agreement, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said it was a “process that seeks to better understand Russia’s position and requests and to meet them”. “
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Follow AP’s coverage on the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
The Associated Press
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