Turkey said it will host Russian and Ukrainian delegations with UN diplomats on Wednesday to discuss resuming blocked grain shipments across the Black Sea.
The quadripartite meeting with Turkish officials comes as food prices are skyrocketing around the world due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat and other grains.
But its supplies have been blocked by Russian warships and mines that Kyiv has laid across the Black Sea.
NATO member Turkey – which has good relations with both Russia and Ukraine – has spearheaded efforts to restart grain shipments.
Turkish officials say they have 20 merchant ships in the Black Sea that could be quickly loaded with Ukrainian grain.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Tuesday that the meeting would be attended by the military delegations of the three countries and a United Nations team.
“Military delegations from the defense ministries of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine, as well as a United Nations delegation, will hold talks in Istanbul tomorrow on safe shipment of grain waiting in Ukrainian ports for international markets,” Akar said.
– Erdogan-Putin talks –
A spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the meeting but also insisted that Moscow had a list of demands.
“Another round of expert consultations is scheduled for July 13 in Istanbul,” ministry spokesman Pyotr Ilyichev was quoted as saying by Russia’s Interfax news agency.
“Our understandable terms include the ability to control and search the ship to avoid arms smuggling and Kiev’s obligation not to stage provocations,” Ilyichev said.
The Russian spokesman added that the UN team will act as “observers” at the talks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to use his good relations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Kiev’s Western-backed leaders to put Ankara at the center of negotiations on Ukraine.
Erdogan will meet Putin for the first time since the Russian invasion when the two leaders are received by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran next Tuesday.
The talks are supposed to officially focus on the situation in war-torn Syria.
But the Kremlin said Putin and Erdogan will also hold a separate meeting that will almost certainly have a heavy focus on Ukraine.
– Snake Island –
Turkey has sent defense delegations to both Moscow and Kyiv to break the deadlock over Ukrainian grain.
A plan proposed by the United Nations would see deliveries begin along certain corridors that avoid known mine locations.
Ukraine has refused to demine the area for fear that Russia could then launch an amphibious assault on cities like the Black Sea port of Odessa.
Ukraine’s Port Authority said last week that Kiev’s recapture of Snake Island in the Black Sea has allowed it to resume shipments to neighboring Romania along the Danube.
However, these shipments can only cover a small fraction of the 20-25 million tons of grain believed to be blocked in Ukraine.
Negotiations are complicated by growing suspicions that Russia is stealing and exporting grain from farmers in Ukrainian regions now under its control.
Ukraine has summoned Ankara’s ambassador to Kyiv after Turkey last week failed to seize a Russian-flagged vessel suspected of transporting confiscated grain.
The ship returned to a Russian port after being anchored off Turkey’s Black Sea coast for almost a week.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it was “deeply disappointed” in Turkey.
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