Türkiye Foreign Minister talks with Lavrov about “grain deal”

During a telephone conversation, Hakan Fidan, Turkiye Foreign Minister, discussed the Black Sea Grain Initiative with his Russian counterpart. Source: TRT Haber, with reference to Turkiye Foreign Ministry; European Pravda "During the conversation, the latest developments around Ukraine and the Istanbul grain agreement were discussed," the report says.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov discussed with Fidan the return of the defenders of Mariupol to Kyiv.

"Ankara's attention was drawn to the destructiveness of the course to continue supplying military equipment to the Kyiv regime. As it was emphasised, appropriate steps can only lead to negative consequences", the ministry reported. During the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Istanbul recently, Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was willing to extend the agreement on the safe transit of Ukrainian grain for three months instead of two. 

The grain supply agreement expires on 17 July. This is a vital route for Ukrainian agricultural exports, thanks to which millions of tonnes of grain and other goods have been exported over the past 11 months. 

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Stopping the transit may raise global food prices, given the importance of Ukraine as a grain exporter. On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that it does not consider it possible to continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was concluded last summer for grain export from Ukrainian ports.

Despite Russia's threats to withdraw from the agreement in mid-May, the Black Sea Grain Initiative was extended for another two months.

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