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ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with Vladimir Putin on Monday in hopes of persuading the Russian leader to rejoin the Black Sea grain accord that Moscow tore apart in July.
Here are some key things to know and what’s at stake:
Where will the conversation take place?
The meeting in Sochi on Russia’s southern coast comes after weeks of speculation about when and where the two leaders might meet.
Erdogan had previously said that Putin would visit Turkey in August.
Why did Russia leave the grain deal?
The Kremlin refused to renew the grain agreement six weeks ago. An agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022 allowed some 33 million metric tons (36 million tons) of grain and other goods to safely leave three Ukrainian ports despite Russia’s war of attrition.
However, Russia backtracked after claiming that a parallel agreement promising to remove barriers to Russian exports of food and fertilizer had not been respected.
Moscow complained that restrictions on shipping and insurance were hampering its agricultural trade, even though it has shipped a record amount of wheat since last year.
Why is Turkey a broker?
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.
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.
Russia-Türkiye relations haven’t always been cordial
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 – both authoritarian leaders who have 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. The first prominent leaders were
Traditional rivals Turkey and Russia drew closer in the following years as trade levels increased and they began work on joint projects such as the Turkstream gas pipeline and Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. Ankara’s relations with Moscow have often worried its Western allies. In 2019, Washington excluded Turkey from the US-led F-35 stealth fighter program due to its acquisition of Russian-made air defense missiles.
Russia-Turkey relations have flourished in areas such as energy, defence, diplomacy, tourism and trade, despite being on opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. Since Erdogan’s re-election in May, Putin has faced domestic challenges that could make him a less reliable partner, notably a short-lived armed insurgency declared by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin late in June.
What are Russia’s demands?
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”. “
“There are many issues ranging from financial transactions to insurance,” he said.
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Alice Morton reported from London.
Andrew Wilkes and Alice Morton, The Associated Press
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