ISTANBUL — Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he still hoped to host Russia and Ukraine for talks this
week on easing a global food crisis caused by blocked Black Sea grain.
اضافة اعلان
Erdogan’s comments came less than a day after
Russian President Vladimir Putin set an unexpected new condition for resuming
the deliveries.
Global food prices are soaring, and millions are
facing hunger because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The war is being fought across one of Europe’s most
fertile regions by two of the world’s biggest producers of grain.
Up to 25 million
tonnes of wheat and other grain have been blocked in Ukrainian ports by Russian
warships and landmines
Kyiv has laid to avert a feared amphibious assault.
The first direct talks between the sides’ military
delegations since March — attended in Istanbul last week by Turkish and UN
officials — came up with an initial draft for resolving the impasse.
The sides had been expected to meet in Istanbul
again this week for a second round of talks that both Turkish and UN officials
had hoped could produce a final deal.
But Putin said on Tuesday that Russia would only
ease the path for Ukrainian grain exports if the West lifts sanctions on
Russia’s own shipments.
Erdogan told reporters after meeting Putin on the
sidelines of a summit in Tehran that he remained hopeful about an agreement.
“As a result of a technical meeting held in Istanbul
last week, an agreement was reached on the main outlines of how this process
will work within UN frameworks,” Erdogan was quoted as telling Turkish
reporters aboard his plane home.
“Now this week, we want this memorandum turned into
a written text. We hope that the plan will start being implemented in the
coming days.”
Neither Russia nor Ukraine have officially confirmed
their participation at the proposed second round of Istanbul talks.
Erdogan also did not signal when it might be held.
Putin personally thanked Erdogan on Tuesday for
playing a central mediation role in the dispute.
But he later told Russian reporters that the West
needed to meet certain conditions “if they sincerely want to improve the
situation on the international food markets”.
“We will facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain,
but we are proceeding from the fact that all restrictions related to possible
deliveries for the export of Russian grain will be lifted,” he said.
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