ANKARA —
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov began a two-day visit to Türkiye on
Tuesday for talks on unblocking grain exports from Ukraine, which have been
stalled by Moscow’s offensive.
اضافة اعلان
The plane carrying
Lavrov landed at the airport in the Turkish capital Ankara, an AFP photographer
saw.
This is Lavrov’s
second trip to Türkiye after meeting his Turkish and Ukrainian counterparts
Mevlut Cavusoglu and
Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya on March 10.
At the request of
the UN, Türkiye has offered its services to escort maritime convoys from
Ukrainian ports, despite the presence of mines — some of which have been
detected near the Turkish coast.
Lavrov is
accompanied by a military delegation.
At the heart of the
negotiations is the opening of a security corridor to ship Ukrainian grain —
cereals and wheat in particular — blocked in the war-torn country’s ports.
Türkiye’s
Agriculture Minister Vahit Kirisci hinted that Ankara and
Kyiv reached an
agreement for the purchase of cereals 25 percent below the market price, local
media reported.
“But they
(Ukrainians) have a dilemma about security and export. They want us to be the
arbitrator here as Türkiye. Negotiations continue under the auspices of the
UN,” he was quoted as saying.
In a phone call
last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart Recep
Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow was ready to work with Ankara to free up maritime
shipping blocked during the war.
Russia’s offensive
in Ukraine and Western sanctions have disrupted supplies of wheat and other
commodities from the two countries, fuelling concerns about the risk of
shortages and hunger around the world.
Russia and Ukraine
produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply.
Dozens of container
ships are blocked in Ukrainian ports surrounded by Russian forces, choking off
exports of wheat, sunflower oil and other foodstuffs, as well as fertilizer for
crops.
Black Sea navigation has also been hampered by mines placed
by both Russian and
Ukrainian forces.
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