Moscow, Russia – President Vladimir Putin on Monday said Russia was nearing a deal that would secure free grain to six African countries, after the UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal collapsed in July.
Since pulling out of the deal, which aimed to ensure safe grain exports via the Black Sea, Russia has been keen to ally African concerns about the impact of the deal’s collapse on food security.
“We are close to completing agreements with six African states,” Putin said at a press conference with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He said that Russia would supply the food and carry out logistics free of charge, adding that deliveries “would begin in the next couple of weeks”.
Both Ukraine and Russia have laid plans to ship grain outside the framework of the grain deal, which the UN argued was vital to global food security.
Putin said Russia was ready to return to the deal “as soon” as restrictions on its own exports were lifted.
“We will be ready to consider the possibility of reviving the grain deal,” he said.
“And we will do it as soon as all the agreements on lifting restrictions on Russian agricultural exports are fully implemented,” he added.
Russia has criticized the deal before, arguing the West is imposing indirect restrictions on its grain and fertilizer exports by limiting its access to global payment systems and insurance.
Turkey wants the warring sides to return to the agreement and use it as a basis for broader peace talks.
Turkey against ‘alternative proposals’ to Ukraine grain deal: Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after talks Monday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Ankara was against alternative proposals to last year’s Ukraine grain agreement, which Moscow scuppered in July.
Both Ukraine and Russia have aired rival plans to start sending grain across the Black Sea on their own.
But Erdogan, who helped broker the original deal, has been trying to revive the agreement and use it as a basis for broader peace talks.
“The alternative proposals brought to the agenda could not offer a sustainable, secure and permanent model based on cooperation between the parties like the Black Sea Initiative,” Erdogan said at a joint media appearance with Putin in Sochi.
Ukraine has sent four ships along a new sea route, while Russia is preparing a plan to send foodstuffs for free to some African countries, and to send discounted grain for processing in Turkey under a deal also including Qatar.
Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey and the United Nations had prepared new proposals aimed at addressing Russia’s problems with the deal, adding that he hoped to reach a workable solution “soon”.
“We have prepared a new proposal package in consultation with the UN. I believe that it is possible to get results. I believe that a solution that will meet Turkey’s expectations will be reached soon,” Erdogan said.