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.
- On July 17, 2023, the Kremlin announced that it was withdrawing from the "grain agreement". Already on July 19, Russian troops carried out a missile and drone attack on the port infrastructure of Odesa, targeting the grain and oil terminals. After that, Russia began systematically shelling Ukraineʼs grain infrastructure.
- On August 10, Ukraine announced temporary sea corridors for merchant vessels. There is a military threat and mine danger on all routes. If the owner or captain of the ship officially confirms readiness to leave, the ship will be allowed to the route. Under such conditions, on August 16, the first merchant ship with more than 30,000 tons of food left the Odesa port.
- On September 4, Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Putin in Sochi. Turkey and Russia did not agree on the restoration of the grain initiative. The UN is also trying to agree on the restoration of the initiative and offers concessions to Russia.