Russia will extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative if all promises made by other parties are kept, country’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Moscow on Friday.
Noting that the deal was reached as a result of the initiatives of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Shoigu said it was Russia’s fault that the deal was suspended.
“If all pledges made to Russia are met, it will be extended, but it looks like this is more difficult than creating new corridors and land routes,” he said.
Besides the Ukraine grain deal, the two ministers also discussed the strategic partnership between Russia and Türkiye, as well as reviving ties between Türkiye and Syria.
Türkiye 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 between President Erdoğan and President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Fidan stressed that reviving the grain was "critical" for food security.
