Russian President Putin and Turkish President Erdogan on Monday met together in the Russian city of Sochi. While there were a number of things on their agenda, the primary issue discussed was the potential revival of the grain deal with Ukraine. Many were hopeful before the meeting that Erdogan and Putin might be able to revive it, however following the meeting, not much has changed.
Prior to the deals establishment, and now, Russia has demanded that its own agricultural exports remain unhindered. In the eyes of the west, this request has been granted as no sanctions have been put on Russian agricultural products. However, in Russia’s eyes the request has not been granted as they say that restrictions upon their shipping and insurance sectors are hampering grain exports.
For these reasons Russia cancelled the grain deal in July, and has stated that they will not revive the grain deal unless their demands are fully met. Should they be met, Putin has said Russia could return to the deal “within days”.
The results of the meeting comes to the dismay of a number of African and Middle Eastern nations which have a full reliance or semi-reliance upon Ukrainian and Russian grain, which is now unable to make it out of the black sea.
However, as a spark of hope, Erdogan announced that Turkey and the UN were formulating a new package of proposals in hopes to revive the deal.
