Despite efforts by the United Nations, there is still no development on reviving the grain initiative, which facilitated the safe export of grain, fertilizers and other foodstuff and supported the stabilization of spiraling food prices worldwide, Russia’s Ambassador to Türkiye Aleksei Erkhov said.

Speaking to Daily Sabah in an exclusive interview, Erkhov said: "Our part of the package is at the zero level. Efforts are deployed by the U.N., but they are fruitless. The problem lies in the fact the West continues to impose and keep sanctions on food and fertilizers from Russia."

U.N. officials are trying to revive the Black Sea grain deal, which Russia quit in July – a year after it was brokered by the U.N. and Türkiye – complaining that its own food and fertilizer exports faced obstacles and that not enough Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need.

Erkhov said that Russia proposed an initiative to deliver wheat free of charge to the poorest African countries. "We expect 200,000 tons of grain to be sent by the end of the year. Two ships already departed some days ago to Somalia and Burkina Faso."

Additional shipments to Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Mali and the Central African Republic are expected to follow soon.

Ukraine and Russia are both major grain exporters. Russia also is a big supplier of fertilizer to the world.

Meanwhile, Ukraine launched what it calls a "temporary export corridor" in August to allow agricultural exports as an alternative arrangement. The country has exported over 5.6 million metric tons of grain and other products through the new corridor.

When asked whether this unilateral corridor put Russia in a disadvantaged position, the ambassador elaborated that "it is Ukraine’s right to export grain by land – highways, railways, rivers, whatever. All the risks are theirs. As well as the highest appreciation of Eastern Europe’s farmers and traders who try to protest."

Double standards

Erkhov also touched upon the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and 1,200 Israelis, and saw Israel bombarding civilians, hospitals, schools, mosques, churches and infrastructure for weeks. The West has mainly adopted a pro-Israel stance, defining the attacks as a right for Tel Aviv to defend itself against Hamas.

"The use of double standards has always been one of the most amazing examples of the West’s hypocrisy and absence of impartiality. They never notice the sins and crimes of the one they love. They even try to present his lies and slander as the naked truth," Erkhov said.

He reiterated that the West had been highly vocal and critical during developments in the war between Russia and Ukraine while it retreated into silence in the case of Gaza.

"Some say: ‘They have the right to self-defense.’ Really? And what is meant by self-defense: bombing hospitals? But according to an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in 2004, the occupying power doesn’t have such a right!" Erkhov underlined.

The ambassador gave another example from the incident where Chechen rebels seized hundreds of hostages in a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budennovsk. More than 100 people were killed during the assault.

"I still recall in my memory the pain and humiliation of June 1995 when a terrorist gang hijacked a big hospital in Russia. I don’t remember someone in the West caring too much about the fate of 1,200 hostages."

Erkhov said he served in Israel at the end of the 1990s when Moscow was fighting terrorism in the Northern Caucasus and remembered Israeli media describing Russia’s acts as "disproportionate, indiscriminate and unacceptable," once again displaying a double standard.

On Russia’s stance regarding Türkiye’s proposed guarantorship model for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Erkhov said: "As soon as we see what it means on the ground, we’ll be able to assess the concept. For the time being, as I can understand, this idea looks like it is not exactly tactical but strategic."

Assad normalization

Although supporting different parties, Syria is another area in which Türkiye and Russia work together, being part of the Astana process, which seeks a political solution and has a presence in the war-torn country.

"I lived more than three years in Damascus, being the Russian deputy chief of mission there. Later, during my six-year stay in Istanbul as consul general, I developed personal relationships with many Syrian friends. And my six years in Ankara as ambassador of Russia just complete my general understanding that a political solution to this fratricidal conflict in Syria is mostly hindered by the extra-regional interference," Erkhov pointed out.

"Extra-regional powers entrenched in the oil-rich Trans-Euphrates region just do not let happen a national reconciliation, thus only provoking interethnic conflicts and destabilizing the situation in the country," he added.

The United States similarly has a presence in Syria, supporting mainly the PKK’s Syrian wing, the YPG, which is one of the factors hindering the territorial unity of Syria. Ankara and Damascus have been engaging in initial contact to discuss whether joint action could be taken against the terror group, yet no concrete result has been achieved yet.

"We are still ready to deploy our utmost efforts to help Turkish-Syrian normalization. We have created a special quadrilateral format for this – Russia, Türkiye, Syria, Iran – and we started working within this format. Disagreements? Maybe, but let me also presume that talks and contacts are in the best interests of the people," the ambassador said on the issue.

Russia’s long-standing effort to open a channel of dialogue between Türkiye and the Bashar Assad regime paid off last year, as the defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Türkiye, Russia and Bashar Assad met in Moscow.

Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decadelong Syrian war. Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining moderate Syrian opposition in their last significant territorial foothold in the northwest after Assad defeated opponents across the rest of the country.

However, according to statements from the Bashar Assad regime, Damascus wants to end the Turkish presence on Syrian territories.