Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is set to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow Thursday for two-day talks, Turkish diplomatic sources said Wednesday.
The pair will discuss Turkish-Russian relations, as well as global and regional developments, sources added, which was also confirmed by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
“Lavrov and Fidan will discuss the situation in the region, particularly in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Transcaucasia,” Zakharova told reporters.
The two top diplomats will discuss Putin’s initiative to supply 1 million tons of grain to Türkiye with financial support from Qatar at talks in Moscow, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The ministry noted that Moscow sees this project as the “best working alternative” to the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
It continued by saying that Türkiye would process Russian grain and supply it to countries most in need as part of the proposed initiative.
The meeting will follow Fidan’s visit to Kyiv last week where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss efforts to end the war with Russia, Zelensky’s 10-step Peace Formula and the revival of the crucial Black Sea grain deal.
The talks are also preceding a key meeting between Turkish and Russian leaders.
Ankara confirmed Monday President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would travel to Sochi “soon," likely next week, to meet President Vladimir Putin to bring Moscow back to the grain deal.
NATO member Türkiye helped negotiate the only major agreement signed by the warring sides since the start of the conflict last year and has been intensifying its efforts in recent weeks to restore the vital corridor.
The deal allowed grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports until Russia exited the deal last month, complaining that it could not export its own grain and fertilizer despite commitments made under the deal.
A temporary corridor established by Ukraine's government has been operating under the radar since, with the second container ship sailing through Türkiye’s Istanbul strait on Saturday.
“But we see these ways cannot be an alternative to the original initiative and contain risks," Fidan said at a news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv.
Putin told Erdoğan in a phone call on Aug. 2 that Moscow was ready to return to the Black Sea grain deal as soon as the West met its obligations regarding Russia's own grain exports.
Ankara also has been insistent that Russia be included in the equation since its exclusion risks further attacks on Ukrainian ports.
Russia's grain and fertilizer exports are not subject to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its military actions in Ukraine. But Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have been a barrier to shipments.
Global grain prices have risen since Moscow let the deal expire on July 17, while Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian ports and grain storage facilities.
Erdoğan also strives to accomplish brokering a permanent truce between the two countries. He voiced hope for results as a result of his efforts “if Putin and Zelenskyy agree on our mediation.”
Ankara and Moscow, however, are on opposing sides in Syria and Libya, with Türkiye backing the Syrian opposition against Assad’s regime and the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya against Tobruk-based House of Representatives.
Since 2017, they have sought to cooperate in bringing a cease-fire and conjure a political solution to the decadelong Syrian civil war. Moscow has also been eager to arrange a reconciliation between Ankara and Damascus, hosting talks and bringing top officials together since last December.
