Putin wants to review grain deal with Erdogan | Abroad

The renegotiation of the Istanbul deal “is possible, necessary and a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan is already being prepared,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said. “This discussion should have happened a long time ago.” He added that it was scheduled on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on September 15-16 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

This agreement, signed in Istanbul on July 22, made it possible to unblock Ukrainian exports of wheat and maize, hitherto hampered by the Russian military offensive.

But Russia says its own exports of food and fertilizers continue to suffer from Western sanctions against Moscow for its military intervention. It also accuses European countries of monopolizing the majority of grains exported from Ukraine. This criticism from the Kremlin casts a cloud of uncertainty over the future of this pact which was signed for a renewable four-month period.

On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin had stated that Ukrainian exports mainly went to Europe and not to the poor countries. “Lies,” said Kiev. In addition, Moscow accuses the West of hindering its own exports because of the sanctions that, even if they are not directly aimed at Russian agricultural products, disrupt financial and logistics chains.

It is necessary “to unblock the situation regarding the access of Russian products to international markets. This issue is still unresolved,” Peskov denounced today.

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