Ankara, Turkey — Turkey intensified talks with Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union on the grain deal in preparation for a possible meeting between Turkish and Russian Presidents Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, TASS reported.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Trade are all involved in the work. Before the meeting between Erdogan and Putin, work has intensified to eliminate the problems confronting the grain initiative’s implementation,” a source told TASS.
Turkey’s Milliyet newspaper reported that Putin will visit Turkey “in the coming days.” At the same time, according to A Haber TV channel, if Putin doesn’t visit the country, Erdogan will travel to the Russian Federation instead.
On August 3, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the date and location for a meeting between Putin and Erdogan were under consideration and would be agreed upon through diplomatic channels.
“The presidents have generally confirmed their intention to hold a meeting soon. However, a time and a place for the meeting will be further agreed upon through diplomatic channels,” he said.
Peskov also pointed out that Putin and Erdogan had not discussed Turkey’s move to release commanders of the Azov battalion (outlawed in Russia) back to the custody of Ukraine in their August 2 telephone call.
A package of documents geared to resolve the problem of food and fertilizer supplies on global markets was signed on July 22, 2022, in Istanbul and extended several times after that before ultimately expiring on July 17.
Russia refused to extend it again because the part of the deal envisaging the removal of obstacles for Russian agricultural exports was never implemented. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed that Russia would resume the deal once its demands were met, TASS said.