Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he seeks to revive the Black Sea Grain Agreement in an “expanded scope”, calling on Western countries to help turn this initiative into a basis for peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Bloomberg writes about this.
— We had another chance to learn firsthand about the requirements and expectations of the Russian Federation during a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, — Erdogan said.
He added that they both shared “sensitivities” about the need to supply grain to Africa.
Contacts for the restart of the initiative “with increased volume” continue, but the solution depends on the implementation of the Western countries “their promises”, the Turkish president added, without specifying which obligations were violated.
— Unfortunately, in the previous period the principle of loyalty was not observed. No diplomatic steps were taken to turn the positive atmosphere created by the Black Sea Initiative into a ceasefire and then permanent peace, — Erdogan noted.
Last week, Erdogan and Putin spoke by phone for the first time since Russia pulled out of the July 17 grain deal to discuss the Russian dictator's planned visit to Turkey later this month.
During the year of the grain deal, Russia repeatedly put forward demands for the restoration of the ammonia pipeline that ran through Ukraine and the reconnection of its Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT system.
