The expected critical and sincere meeting between Erdogan and Putin
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met on Monday in Russia’s southern coastal city of Sochi amid efforts to bring Moscow back into the critical Black Sea grain deal that was abandoned by Putin in July.
Television footage showed the two leaders smiling and shaking hands upon Erdogan’s arrival to Putin’s residence, where the Russian president suggested that he take a vacation in the Black Sea resort, SIA reports with reference to foreign media.
In remarks ahead of their talks, Putin told Erdogan that Russia is “open to negotiations” on the grain deal.
Their discussions were also expected to tackle a proposal from Moscow to supply one million tons of Russian grain to Turkey, which with financial assistance from Qatar would then be distributed to countries most in need, the official Russian news agency TASS said.
The supply of natural gas from Russia to Turkey was also expected be part of Monday’s talks, according to TASS.
After several hours of talks, Erdogan told a joint news conference that he and his Russian counterpart “will be able to reach a solution which fulfils the expectations soon.” Putin said that his country will be ready to consider reviving the grain deal “as soon as all the agreements on lifting restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products are fully implemented.”
The first in-person meeting between the two leaders in nearly a year took place amid what experts say is a possible reconfiguration of the Erdogan-Putin “special relationship,” as the Turkish leader feels more secure in his final term in office.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week that he had sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “a set of concrete proposals” to revive the deal.
But Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Saturday that Russian demands implied by the agreement had yet to be implemented under the previous deal. She did not give details.
Since quitting the grain deal in July, Russia has targeted Ukrainian ports with missile and drone strikes and threatened to treat all vessels on the Black Sea as potential military targets.
Ukraine has announced a “humanitarian corridor” as an alternate route. It hugs the coast of neighbouring Romania and Bulgaria.
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