The Turkish Presidency’s Communications Directorate announced Sunday that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would fly to Russia’s Sochi to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday.
The directorate said in a statement that the president, invited by Putin, would hold comprehensive discussions on Turkish-Russian relations in a one-day visit. It also said that the two leaders would exchange opinions on current global and regional issues.
Erdoğan’s visit comes more than one month after Moscow put on hold a deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets despite the 18-month war between Russia and Ukraine.
Türkiye spearheads efforts to patch up the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which got grain and other food to Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat. It was the main sponsor of the U.N.-backed agreement secured in July 2022, using its good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv to help strike the only major deal reached by the sides during the war.
The initiative allowed Ukraine to ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports.
A separate memorandum between the U.N. and Russia agreed at the same time, pledged to overcome obstacles to Moscow's shipment of food and fertilizer to world markets.
The deal followed Russia's Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine which sent global food prices skyrocketing because the two countries are major "breadbaskets" for the world. However, Russia pulled out of the deals in mid-July, claiming that its conditions hadn't been met.
Before the leaders' summit, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan arrived in Moscow last week for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Fidan stressed that reviving the grain was "critical" for food security.
Lavrov said he had given Ankara a list of actions the West would have to take in order to resume Ukrainian grain and fertilizer shipments. Talks between Erdoğan and Putin could help unlock that.
Türkiye has positioned itself to facilitate any peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. It has opposed the Russian invasion but also the Western sanctions on Moscow.
Erdoğan has maintained good relations with Putin and helped broker prisoner exchanges between the warring sides. The Turkish leader has repeatedly called on the Western countries to consider Russia’s demands and said he hoped his talks with Putin could lead to the restoration of the Black Sea initiative.
While Ukraine and some other Western states have promoted alternative routes for Ukrainian exports, Ankara opposes them on safety grounds. It wants the West to accept some Russian demands and for Russia to drop others, to restart Ukraine grain exports under U.N. and Turkish oversight.