At the G20 summit, Turkish President Erdogan asked to fulfill Russia’s demands on the “grain agreement” and ease sanctions.
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Bloomberg notes that Turkey is asking world leaders to make it easier to insure Russian exports of food and fertilizers and to reconnect Russia to the SWIFT system.
In addition, Erdogan is asking to ease sanctions that prohibit Russia from importing agricultural equipment (tractors or spare parts).
On Friday, September 8, BILD wrote that the UN is negotiating with Russia to renew the “grain agreement” in exchange for the lifting of all major sanctions against Russia.
The publication published a secret plan for correspondence between Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. There are 4 points:
- The EU lifts sanctions against Rosselkhozbank;
- Insurance of Russian cargo ships in the waters of the Black and Azov Seas from Ukrainian attacks;
- Subsidiary companies of the aggressor country that produce fertilizer will be able to count on a partial return of frozen assets;
- They want to once again allow Russian ships carrying food or fertilizers to dock in European ports.
Background
This week in Sochi, Russia, the presidents of Turkey and so-called Russia did not reach an agreement on renewing the grain agreement. However, this was only the first careful screening of the parties’ proposals, after which a new agreement may follow.
After his conversation with Putin, Turkish President Erdogan said that “there is no hopeful prospect of peace on the horizon,” but the Turkish side will continue diplomatic efforts.
The presidents discussed the renewal of the “grain agreement”, but could not agree. Putin insists on fulfilling the requirements for Russian agricultural exports and removing restrictions on them. He said that the West “forced” Russia to leave the agreement because it refuses to remove supplies from the Russian Federation and the banking sector from sanctions.
Ukraine conveyed to Turkey a proposal to resume the work of the “grain corridor” without Russia, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasily Bodnar subsequently stated.
There is no final confirmation yet. But since ships are already sailing through the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey and pass through the straits without restrictions, this is a truly rational way,” the diplomat noted.
He recalled that within the framework of the “grain initiative” there were quite frequent cases when the aggressor country restricted the passage of ships to Ukraine or tried to regulate access to one or another Ukrainian port. In addition, the list of products that could be exported from Ukraine was limited.
According to Bodnar, since there are no export restrictions on Ukrainian products for ships that pass through this humanitarian corridor, such an alternative option could be one of the main ones to resolve the situation.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.