Putin to meet Turkey's Erdogan on Monday in Sochi – Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday in Sochi, a Russian Black Sea resort, according to the Kremlin on Friday.

Reuters reported on Thursday that two Turkish sources said the meeting would primarily focus on Black Sea grain exports.

António Guterres, the U.N. Secretary-General, stated on Thursday that he has sent “a set of concrete proposals” to Russia aimed at reviving a deal that allowed the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, where Russia controls Ukraine’s sea lanes.

Russia withdrew from the agreement in July, one year after it was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. Russia claimed that Western economic sanctions violated its parallel memorandum, impeding its own food and fertilizer exportation. Additionally, Russia argued that not enough Ukrainian grain was reaching countries in need.

The Black Sea grain deal aimed to address a global food crisis exacerbated by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which Russia refers to as a “special military operation.” Both Russia and Ukraine are prominent grain exporters.

An anonymous Russian diplomat informed Reuters earlier that Guterres’ letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov contained “no revelations.”

Lavrov himself stated on Thursday, following a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, that Russia saw no indication that it would receive the necessary guarantees to revive the grain deal.

Russia has stated that it would immediately resurrect the agreement if its demands were met with actions, not just promises. One of Moscow’s main demands is the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT international payments system, which was cut off by the EU in June 2022.

Although Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion, Moscow claims that limitations on payments, logistics, and insurance have impeded shipments.

(Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Conor Humphries)