Russian President Vladimir Putin during an online Security Council meeting on July 14, 2023 in Moscow (SPUTNIK/AFP/ALEXEY BABUSHKIN)
Russian President Vladimir Putin “agrees with me” on the extension of the Black Sea grain agreement which expires Monday evening, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
“We are preparing to welcome Mr. Putin in August and we agree on the extension of the grain corridor in the Black Sea”, which allows Ukraine to export its production, Mr. Erdogan told the press. after Friday prayers.
The Turkish head of state said he had exchanged with his Russian counterpart without saying when the call took place.
Asked by Russian news agencies, the Kremlin spokesman did not confirm Mr. Erdogan’s statements.
“There is no statement about this from the Russian side,” replied Dmitry Peskov.
Referring also to the letter that the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, sent to Mr. Putin to guarantee his consent, Mr. Erdogan also “hoped that with this letter we will ensure the extension of the cereal corridor, with our efforts spouses and those of Russia”.
Ukrainian cereals exported by sea (AFP/Sophie STUBER)
Vladimir Putin is blowing hot and cold a few days before the end of the agreement, which expires Monday evening at midnight in Istanbul (9:00 p.m. GMT).
Thursday evening, Mr Putin estimated that “not a single one” of the Russian requests had been taken into account at this stage. “We are going to think about what we are going to do, we still have a few days for that,” he added.
Mr. Guterres wishes, to convince him, to remove the obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers – the other part of the July 2022 agreement whose non-compliance Mr. Putin denounces – by “eliminating the obstacles to financial transactions of the Agricultural Bank of Russia”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, June 3, 2023 in Ankara (AFP/Archives/Adem ALTAN)
This is the meaning of the letter he sent to Mr. Putin and this agreement was also at the center of a meeting between the boss of the UN and the European Union, Thursday and Friday near Brussels.
Signed in July 2022 in Istanbul with Russia and Ukraine under the aegis of Turkey and the United Nations, the Black Sea Grain Initiative has made it possible to export nearly 33,000 tonnes of grain from Ukraine despite the war.
© 2023 AFP
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