TEHRAN | Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Tuesday of progress in negotiations for the export of grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea and thanked his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his “mediation” in this file, during a meeting in Tehran. .
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“I would like to thank you for your mediation efforts, for having offered Turkey as a ground for negotiations concerning the problems of food production, the problems of grain exports via the Black Sea,” Putin said. transcribed in a statement from the Kremlin.
“Thanks to your mediation, we have moved forward. All the questions are not settled yet, it is true, but there is movement and it is a good thing”, he continued.
The two leaders are in Tehran for discussions with their Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, on the conflict in Syria but also on the war in Ukraine.
MM. Putin and Erdogan must discuss the mechanisms to allow exports via safe maritime corridors of cereals from Ukraine, blocked by the Russian military offensive in this country, at the risk of causing a world food crisis.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that a “final document” would be ready shortly to allow the export of grain from Ukraine.
During his meeting on Tuesday with Mr. Erdogan, Vladimir Putin also mentioned “the very many questions” concerning the settlement of the conflict in Syria, as well as “the other important question” of the settlement of the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh.
“We have a very full agenda, and I am very happy to see you,” added Mr. Putin to the address of the Turkish president.