Bloomberg: Erdogan asks G20 leaders to meet Russiaʼs demands for “grain deal” — and ease sanctions

Author:
Anhelina Sheremet
Date:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is calling on several G20 leaders to meet some of Russiaʼs demands and restore the "grain agreement".

This is reported by Bloomberg with reference to three Turkish officials who are familiar with the negotiations.

Erdogan is holding talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit, which is being held this weekend in the Indian capital, New Delhi. Earlier, Erdogan failed to convince Putin to restore the "grain agreement". Turkey is now asking world leaders to make it easier to insure Russian food and fertilizer exports and to reconnect Russia to the SWIFT system for international payments.

Turkey says the way to restore the deal is to loosen some of the sanctions that Moscow says prevent imports of agricultural equipment (tractors or spare parts).

Russia has already rejected the idea of the UN to lift sanctions against the Russian Agrarian Bank, several European diplomats said. They said Turkey often mentions the status of grain talks during meetings. Ankara is trying to find a consensus to renew the deal, the Indian official added.