After holding talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he’s willing to resume the landmark deal allowing Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea, only if the West meets Moscow’s demands on its own agricultural exports.
“I would like to reiterate our principled position: We will be ready to consider the possibility of reanimating the grain deal, I once again told the President about this today, and we will do this as soon as all the agreements on lifting restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products are fully implemented.”
He also stressed that Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal did not affect global food markets, adding that there’s no physical shortage of food.
Putin acknowledged that there are problems with the fair distribution of the grain that has nothing to do with the grain deal itself.
The Russian president emphasized that if his demands are met, the deal could be back in place within a matter of “days”.
Meanwhile, his Turkish counterpart said Türkiye and the UN, which brokered the original grain deal, have again put together a new package of proposals to resolve the issue.
“We believe that we will hopefully reach a solution that will meet our expectations in a short time.”
And with criticism that Russia’s withdrawal from the deal will cause developing nations who rely on the imports of grains to suffer, Putin announced that Russia was close to finalizing an agreement to provide free grain to six African countries via Türkiye.
The Ukrainian grain deal was signed between Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 with the mediation of Turkey and the United Nations, according to which Russia allowed Ukrainian grain to be exported to other countries through the Black Sea but after it expired, Russia did not restore it.
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